


Rebuilding Family

by MelyndaR



Series: Ashes series [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norse Religion & Lore, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fitz is mute, Gen, Jane is an awesome little sis, Loki tries being a good family man, Ward is a good guy who made bad decisions, coulson is Team Dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 09:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 25,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3323105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye gets answers that she wasn't expecting, and the outcome could very well be disastrous unless everyone can find a way to become okay with their new situation at the Playground - to heal their relationships with one another and maybe even become an extended family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is: the second installment in the Ashes series! This one is much more AU then the first story - for one thing it includes a handful of characters from Norse Mythology. Secondly, we're going to continue totally ignoring canon season 2 of AoS. For another thing... well, you'll just have to wait and see as you read on, but basically I'm insane. You've been warned! Read on if you dare! Enjoy!:)

"...he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;... to comfort all that mourn;... to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,..." (Isaiah 61:1-3, King James Version)

* * *

 

Loki shot back into wakefulness after only a moment of being unconscious, but he didn't instantly open his eyes or move, giving himself a moment to assess the situation that he was in. Surrounded by a wall of Asgardians who meant to protect him from the group on the other side of them should it become necessary. Sigyn's fingertips hovered lightly on his wrist as she inquired if he was alright.

Yes. No. Maybe.

He was concious, which was good. He was surrounded by people who probably wanted to kill him, and that was bad. But then there was the brunette in the back of the room, and she presented a whole other set of problems that he had never seen coming. But was that a good thing or bad thing?

That girl - if he was right - was the daughter that he'd never even met, seeing as her mother, Angrboda, had cast her out when she was only an infant.

He had to know more about her - possibly even about the magic that he sensed she held within her quite without knowing it - but he couldn't do that while he was spread-eagle on the floor. So he sat up warily, making note of the way Sigyn was watching him with such concern and keeping an arm on his back, trying to help him. Maybe his practically estranged wife still cared for him a bit? He felt oddly heartened at the idea, and even went so far as to flash her an uncertain smile of thanks. He bit his lip to keep from smiling outright when she returned the gesture.

And then the moment was ruined entirely when Agent Coulson spoke up, saying with a touch of dryness in his tone, "Everybody to the conference room, please. I'm taking the elevator with May, Delta, Jane, Thor, and Selvig - Fitz too; the rest of you take the stairs. You've got three minutes."

They dispersed obediently with Captain Rogers warily gesturing for the remaining Asgardians to trail him and the others to the stairs.

As the large group started to move in the proper direction, Loki felt a stab of something that might've been guilt when he wondered what the conversation in the elevator was going to sound like. Not good, he knew that much. Thor had practically committed high treason against Coulson by brining his adopted brother here.

But still, Loki had other things on his mind at the moment.

"Sif," he said under his breath, keeping near the woman warrior as they walked. "Who is that brunette girl in the white shirt? You met Coulson's team when you captured Lorelei, right? Was she among them?"

"Yes, she was. Her name's Skye." Sif looked at him, eyes dark with suspicion as she asked a little sharply, "Why?"

Loki didn't even pause before he lied easily, "No reason."

"You're not allowed to bed those Coulson considers his children, and she is firmly in that group."

"That was not-"

Sif cut off his scandalized objection with a glare and jogged a couple of steps ahead to get away from him.

Loki sighed, turning his head towards the woman on his other side - his wife - and informed her quietly, "I wouldn't."

Sigyn just wound one of her arms through his and didn't say a word as they made their way into what Coulson had called the "conference room."

Already in his place at the front of the long table, Coulson gestured to the chairs that remained empty, ordering, "Take a seat everybody, and let's get started. Playtime's over; it's time to get down to work." Once he'd been obeyed, SHIELD's new director continued, saying, "Since those that sit at this table appear to be the entirety of who were going to recruit for awhile, I've already been talking with some of you and have sorted out how I want to position people within this organization. Considering who we've got and the individual talents of you all, these are what I want your assignments to be for the time being.

"First off, I want you all to know who's living on which level of the base, so here's your list from the lowest level up. First floor is Mr. Stark and Miss Potts, Ian, Dr. Banner, Thor and Dr. Foster, Miss Lewis, and Dr. Selvig.

"Dr. Foster informed us once Thor left who he intended to bring back with him, and we've got the second level set up for the six of them.

"The third level is where you'll find myself, Agent May, Captain Rogers, Lieutenant Barnes, and Agents Ward, Keonig, and Hill.

"The fourth floor is currently unoccupied, and the fifth floor houses, Fitzsimmons, Skye, and Agents, Triplett, Barton, and Romanoff.

"Because I think it's a good idea, - please don't argue - I have appointed on each of the housing levels currently being occupied, a… house mother of sorts to be in charge of whatever… babysitting or domestic issues might need to be cared for on that floor. For the ground floor, I've asked Miss Potts to fill this position. I haven't had a chance to ask, but would you be willing to fill the position on your floor, Lady Sif?"

Sif nodded, a pleased smirk playing about the corners of her mouth as she answered, "Of course."

"Thank you. Third floor: please report to Agent May, and if she feels I need to hear about any of it, she will tell me so. Fifth floor is Simmons'." He looked to the bioengineer when asking, "Is that alright?" She nodded, and so Coulson continued talking after consulting a piece of paper in front of him. "Wonderful. Now about your jobs within SHIELD.

"Of course you all are aware, I assume, that I'm the new director of SHIELD, appointed by Nick Fury, who was the former director.

"Any sort of public relations or managerial things that come up will be handled by Agent Keonig and Miss Potts. Miss Potts, you do have a shared office room with Koenig on the seventh level, which is the level that we consider the actual base of operations for SHIELD now. I'm sure he'd be willing to show it to you, although I suspect he's going to be spending quite a lot more time there than you."


	2. Chapter 2

Coulson continued handing out assignments, saying, "Skye, as always, will be our technological expert. You also have an office on the seventh level.

"Darcy and Ian… As Thor's already told you, you're going to be filling in gaps wherever you're needed on any given day. Unfortunately, that does not come with any sort of appointed work space.

"Those who are going to be working in the labs that make up level six are Mr. Stark with Drs. Banner, Foster, Selvig, Fitz, and Simmons. There are four separate stations set up down there, and the duos I would prefer worked together - at least for now - are Stark with Banner, Fitzsimmons, and Drs. Selvig and Foster.

"Those of you who I haven't mentioned yet can now consider yourselves field agents. I'll be honest with you guys: I'm not in the mood for codenames for the strike teams - duos in most cases - so you're getting numbered instead. Former Strike Team Delta gets to be Team One. Two is Captain Rogers and Agent Hill. Three is Agents Triplett and May. Fourth is Thor and Sif-"

"Director Coulson." Coulson turned towards Sif when she interrupted his litany, wordlessly giving her permission to continue. The warrior woman spoke nervously, saying, "With all due respect, I believe that Thor left out a number of useful people when he retrieved us from Asgard."

"Such as?" Coulson asked curiously.

Sif shifted, glancing between Thor and Jane before she said, "Thrud, for one." Thor shook his head, but Sif ignored him, saying, "Loki's five sons are quite unique warriors. And speaking of Loki," Sif turned a sharpened gaze onto the god in question, saying, "Frigga, wherever she is, would be an unparalleled asset."

"She's dead!" Thor said.

"No," Sif argued gently, turning to the thunder god. "I suspect she's not. Her son is the best healer in all of the Nine Realms. If anyone could bring someone back to life, it'd be him, and if there's anyone he'd be willing to bring back to life, it's her." She turned back to Loki, inquiring, "I'm right, aren't I?"

Startled by Sif's insight, Loki's eyes widened and then narrowed at her before he glanced nervously at Thor and admitted nearly under his breath, "She's alive and staying on Vanahiem."

The thunder that suddenly shook the sky was so loud that they could hear it even underground, and Loki instinctively shrank away from his brother's fury, not willing to meet the blazing blue orbs that he could feel drilling into the side of his skull.

"Hey, Thor," Jane said calmingly to the god that she considered her own. "If she's alive, that's a good thing, isn't it? You'll get to see your mother again. That's _good_. Loki was just trying to do a good thing; you know that. Don't be angry, this is a good thing. You'll see, I promise."

With a few deep breaths from Thor, the storm above them ceased as he regained his calm.

Deciding that the danger had passed, Coulson turned to the god and asked, "How much time would it take to go get those seven and bring them back here?"

"If we split up, it could be done in a day," Thor answered, forcing himself to analyze the situation at hand.

"Good. Take whoever you need then. Leave within the hour and be back by this time tomorrow, alright? We can start back here then and pick back up where we're leaving off now."

Looking severely displeased, Thor nodded stiffly, beginning to hand out orders as he pushed back from the table. "Warriors Three, retrieve Mother from Vanahiem. Loki and Sigyn, get Fenrir and Jormungandr from Jotunhiem. Sif and I will get the others from Asgard."

"Brother," Loki spoke up carefully. "I have business to attend to here."

"Then attend to it when we get back."

Loki took a deep breath, biting out, "I am not in the mood for Angrboda at the moment."

Because if Skye was indeed Hel, Loki might just be "in the mood" to kill the Jotun giantess in question.

"Your moods are not my problem, and you can hardly expect me to care about them at the moment, considering the lie that you've apparently been telling me about my own mother."

"She's my mother, too, and we both know that's why I helped her," Loki said, giving up and following Thor out of the conference room with the others. As they took the elevator up to the surface, Loki gave Thor the explanation he knew his brother deserved, no matter how much he knew Thor wouldn't want to believe it. "Mother wanted to leave Odin, and she told me so. When the dark elves invaded, I realized my chance to give her that, and so directed someone to her chambers to kill her. When everyone was at her funeral, I teleported myself out of my cell and onto the ship that held her body in the moments before the vessel was lit on fire. I restored her life in as much time as it took for me to restore your arm when we were fighting Malekith, and then teleported us to a forest of Vanahiem where I already had a cabin hidden in the middle of nowhere. She's been there ever since."

The group was on the surface by now, and Thor didn't say anything, howling for Heimdall instead. The gatekeeper had been keeping his eye on them, and so Loki found that after going through the Rainbow Bridge, he and Sigyn were alone on Jotunheim, conveniently standing directly outside his sons' shared cave dwelling. Shivering beside him, Sigyn took a half step closer to Loki as he rapped impatiently on the door of the dwelling, still in a superiorly irritated mood.

"Be nice, wife of mine," he said under his breath to his traveling companion.

"Take your own advice," Sigyn shot back. "You know I love all of your boys as if they were my own."

Whatever Loki had been about to say in reply, he bit it back when Jormungandr was the one to open the door to his house with a surprised, "Father," falling from the lanky young man's tongue. "What are you doing here?"


	3. Chapter 3

"We need to speak with you and your brother."

"Speak to us about what?" Another young man - Fenrir - came into the dimly lit front room while his brother gestured for Loki and Sigyn to come in.

"A job opportunity," Loki answered.

"With you and the others on Midgard?" Jormungandr guessed.

"For SHIELD?" Fenrir added, leaning against the doorjamb.

Loki nodded, watching his sons carefully as the young men turned to one another and had a sort of silent conversation about what to do.

Within a minute, Fenrir smiled as he turned to his and Jormungandr's visitors, declaring, "We'll take it."

Loki sighed, nodding again as he said, "Very well. Gather your things so that we can head back."

"Director Coulson said that we don't have to return until twenty-four hours have passed," Sigyn reminded her husband.

"And, as I said, I have business I need to attend to on Midgard. The sooner it's done - and with the least amount of people there - the better."

"In that case, give us an hour," Jormungandr - the youngest of Loki's sons - said with a small smile before he and Fenrir disappeared to prepare for the sudden move.

* * *

As he'd wanted, Loki, Sigyn, and his two youngest sons made it back to Asgard within three hours of his original leaving, which, Loki hoped, left him with plenty of time to speak to… who? Coulson? - about his suspicions concerning the "technical expert" the Midgardians called Skye.

When the four of them walked into the base, the first person they ran into was Jane, who, upon being informed by her instruments that Heimdall was dropping someone in their backyard, had come up to see who it was. The scientist was, of course, surprised to see them back so soon.

Loki introduced the boys, who _looked_ by Midgardian standards to be twenty-four and twenty-three respectively, and then asked Jane where he might find Coulson.

"His office, I think."

Loki nodded, saying, "Thank you," before he started towards the elevator. Pausing mid-step, he backtracked and laid a hand on Jane's shoulder, saying, "And thank you for protecting me earlier."

She smiled up at him, replying, "You did the same thing for me, remember?" Then she offered, letting the moment pass, "I can get these guys settled in; you go talk to Coulson."

Loki nodded and obediently headed towards the elevator, already mentally trying to sort out how he wanted to go about what would be an admittedly difficult conversation. There was no telling how Coulson would react, and Loki knew he had no proof that the man would accept as viable. But still, even if it turned out he was wrong, he had to know. He had to try.

His own experiences had been a rough, if thorough, teacher in this area, though, and he didn't want to go directly to Skye with his suspicions. So Coulson seemed like a good place to start instead - except for the fact that he had to, well, actually _talk_ to the man who hated him so very much.

He didn't have more time for reflection, because by now he was at the new director's office door on the seventh level of the base. He knocked, and did as bid when Coulson called out, "Come in."

Agent Coulson was staring at a computer screen, working on some document, but when Loki came in, he went visibly rigid and instantly abandoned his work, asking stiffly, "What?"

"I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

There was a small couch - didn't the Midgardians call it a loveseat? - against a wall, but Coulson didn't offer a seat to him, so Loki stood there, trying not to show how off-kilter he was today, and particularly in this situation. "About the girl you call Skye."

Coulson did the impossible and stiffened even further, his eyes darkening to twin pieces of flint as his expression became equally hard. "What could you _possibly_ want with her? And whatever it is, the answer is absolutely 'no.' You will stay away from her, or I will send you straight back to your cinderblock hotel on Asgard - not that I'm not planning on doing that anyway, just so we're clear."

"I mean no one any harm, Agent-"

"-Director-"

"Director Coulson. It's just that Skye… she has magic."

"I don't understand," Coulson said. "What are you talking about?"

"She is capable of magic; I could sense it in her when Heimdall first put us here – a Jotun magic store that had been left totally untapped. I don't think she even knows that she possesses it."

"You're absolutely certain about all of that?" Coulson asked.

Loki nodded, surprised by how easy it seemed it was going to be to convince the new director.

"If you're right, how exactly would she have gotten this magic?"

Here came the harder part. "She would've been born with it."

"Born with it?" Coulson repeated. "As in… born a… what did you call it?"

"Jotun. And yes, that's how it would've happened."

"How do you know it's 'Jotun' magic?"

"Because…" Loki took a deep breath, hoping the director wouldn't laugh outright by what he was about to say. "It's cold." Coulson raised his eyebrows skeptically, and Loki plunged ahead. "Jotuns are… hard to explain – but they're very… comfortable in cold. The planet Jotunheim is a particularly icy and desolate planet. The Jotuns as a people – unless given a spell to make their body temperatures and – in some cases – very forms more… human-like, can give you frostbite at a simple touch. This cold goes so far into their beings as to seep into their very magic. If you can recognize the chill to the magic, as I can, then you can recognize it as being Jotun."

"Skye's hardly given me frostbite," Coulson said, apparently very unconvinced, as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair.

"That's what I'm trying to explain! Skye – if she is who I think she is – was cast down from Jotunheim as an infant by her mother – a mother who very well could've known just enough magic to give her that spell before abandoning her."

"And who exactly do you think Skye is exactly?" Coulson asked skeptically.

Loki took a deep breath before admitting, while looking the director mildly in the eye, trying to seem as unthreatening as possible as he delivered something of a verbal sucker-punch by saying, "My daughter."


	4. Chapter 4

"No."

The monosyllabic reply came from Coulson instantly, and without an ounce of uncertainty therein. It was a declaration. Loki was not Skye's father; according to Coulson there was no way that the god could be such a thing.

But despite what Coulson wanted the truth to be, no one actually knew… and Loki just wanted to make sure. There was, of course, a very large chance that Loki was wrong, but he had a gut feeling about this that he couldn't ignore. He _had_ to _make sure_. So he plunged ahead.

"Surely a SHIELD employee would've already have had a DNA sample taken for one reason or another?"

"That doesn't matter," Coulson replied through gritted teeth, which Loki took to mean that there was, in fact, a DNA sample somewhere - judging by the director's reaction, possibly even somewhere on this base. Perfect.

"Of course it does! If I can use that sample, a test can be run without Skye knowing any different."

"No."

Loki narrowed his eyes as he watched Coulson, a new thought suddenly coming to mind. "Who are Skye's parents, then?"

"For all intents and purposes, I am."

Loki realized, "You don't know who her parents are, do you?" Coulson didn't answer. "Is she an orphan?"

"She grew up in China," Coulson finally muttered grudgingly.

"In an orphanage," Loki added, growing more and more certain of his theory.

"You're not going to find that DNA sample," Coulson informed him. "Nor, I believe, would you ask Skye for a new sample."

"And why wouldn't I do that?" Loki asked curiously, head tilting to the side, paying attention to Coulson's response even as his mind went in a different direction, planning a way to get his hands on the DNA.

Coulson leaned back in his chair, considering Loki as he answered with certainty, "Because of your armor."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Coulson nodded to Loki's clothes, explaining, "From where I sit, I can see engravings of a snake, a horse, and one… two… three wolves. Those are your five sons, according to the mythology that apparently isn't just mythology, correct?" Coulson didn't wait for Loki to reply before he said, "You're not a great guy on a lot of levels, but you do try with your family. Now, maybe you've given up a little bit - no, that's not even right, is it? Sigyn's given up on you, I think, but that's not necessarily mutual. Your relationships with your boys remains to be seen. But you do try to be a good family man when you want to. If you think that Skye's your long-lost daughter, you're going to want to make a good impression - which won't be made by popping up and asking for a wad of spit, will it? Therefore, you're not going to ask her for DNA, and I'm not going to give you any that we may or may not already have. End of discussion. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have real work to do - unless you want to help me with reassignments, of course?"

Loki blinked, decided that playing nice might be the better option instead of ripping Coulson's head off where he sat, sighed for effect, and asked, "How can I be of service… director?"

"Those seven extra people coming in messed up my assignments, so I've got to redo some of the strike teams where your friends and family are concerned. Got any suggestions?"

"We're discussing the fourteen from off-world?" Loki asked obligingly. Coulson nodded, and Loki said, "I would like to stay with my wife."

"That was part of the original plan," Coulson nodded, consulting his computer screen.

"Good. Narfi and Vali are brothers, and they work well together. The same can be said for Fenrir and Jormungandr. If you're going to break up the Warriors Three, Volstagg and Fandral do a good job of evening one another out."

Loki paused, thinking over those that remained, and Coulson supplied needlessly, "That leaves Frigga, Sleipnir, Thor, Sif, Hogan, and Thrud."

"Frigga would be the most likely to… She and Sleipnir would probably be best for one another."

"Because she's his grandma?" Coulson guessed.

"Because they can both be kind to the other and take one another seriously, "Loki said with a roll of his eyes. "As warriors, neither one of them tend to get that from many people."

"Okay; what about the others?"

"I'm thinking."

"About what?" Coulson asked, finally gesturing for Loki to take the loveseat, which he did before answering the question.

"Sif, I believe, has finally moved on from the idea of catching any further special attention from my brother beyond what they had once upon a time - when Thrud was created. I have reason to believe that she's rather… sweet on… Hogan now."

"Is that relevant?"

"I don't know," Loki said. "But I do know that, ah… Thor and Thrud do not… have the best of relationships. I think that's part of why Sif wanted Thrud to come here; the girl will be living in relatively close quarters to her father."

"Are you suggesting that I put Thor and Thrud together as a team, to, what, work through their issues?"

Silence reigned for a long moment as Loki considered this before he nodded, admitting, "Yes, I suppose I am."

"Okay," Coulson said skeptically. "I'll try it your way - but if any of these teams sink, I'm blaming you."

"That's quite the leadership spirit, director," Loki smirked.

Coulson didn't answer the remark, saying instead, "Don't think your helping here is helping your case any, either; I'm still not giving you Skye's DNA."

"Very well," Loki said, standing and taking his leave of the office. "You don't have to."

Loki could get DNA from something as simple as a hairbrush… he just had to find Skye's.

Already tired from what had been a very strenuous day, Loki knew it wasn't worth using his more taxing magic right now any more than he had to, so no teleportation. The elevator could possibly pose a bit of a risk as well, he realized, so he crept silently up the stairs, forcing overly-light steps upon weary feet.


	5. Chapter 5

He halted, listening for the presence of others on the fifth floor before stepping unto the landing and beginning to peer into bedrooms. Not that he knew what to look for, he realized, until - of course - he came upon the last bedroom to the left and found a few of computers scattered about the space. This had to be Skye's room. And there - in plain sight on the bedside table was a hairbrush. The Norns must be on his side today. Briefly, the thought flickered into his mind that Thor – and certainly Sigyn – wouldn't be, though, if they figured out what he was doing. Then he simply wouldn't let them find out. Loki was a grown man, after all; he could do whatever he wanted to.

_Within reason…_

Why, Loki wondered a little peevishly as he snuck back down towards the labs, did the niggling voice of his conscience always have to sound so much like Frigga?

Well, this was within reason, he decided. If by some miracle, Skye was his daughter, then they both deserved to know – and there was no way to know unless a DNA test was done. Coulson was just being overprotective of his team member. Maybe this would even somehow show the man that Loki wasn't actually out to hurt anyone this time around; he was rather too glad to be out of his cell to try any of that.

Having soothed his conscience, Loki got the hair that he needed from the brush and crept past the office level and down another flight of stairs to find himself in the labs. Hopefully, he would find Jane down here before he came upon anyone else. But that was not to be. He came down the stairs only to be targeted by four sets of glaring, somewhat fearful eyes. Stark, Dr. Fitz, Dr. Simmons, and Skye.

"Is Jane here?" Loki asked coolly, hiding the hairs in his clenched fist.

"No," Tony answered just as icily. "Jarvis could tell you where she is if you want."

"Who is 'Jarvis'?"

"He's the AI that Skye, Fitz, and I have been working on putting in since I got here. We just finished getting him set up. Say hi, J."

"Hello, Loki Laufeyson."

Loki was at least familiar with what an AI was, so he wasn't horribly impressed when the walls seemed to speak to him. "Can you tell Jane that I need her?" he inquired of the device.

"Of course." A pause and then the electronic voice said, "She is now on her way."

Loki nodded and walked around the quartet, going through the first station, to the second where some of Jane and Selvig's equipment had been dropped. The labs were really just one long, open room with retractable doors sliding out from the wall when one desired privacy for their own section. That was exactly what Loki wanted right now, so he shut the doors on both sides of the section, and waited for Jane, who appeared a couple minutes later.

"You need something?" she asked, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Loki slid the door closed once again, earning a raised eyebrow from the astrophysicist, before he returned the question for a question, holding out the hair and a sample of his own saliva that he had taken while waiting for Jane, and asked, "Can you run a DNA test on this?" Her other eyebrow went up too at that, so Loki added, "Without asking questions?"

Jane sighed as she accepted the samples, guessing, "I'd probably don't even want to know, do I?"

"No. I need you to not say anything about doing this, as well."

"Why?"

"It wouldn't be well received."

"By who?"

"Anyone."

"That's nice," Jane drawled before informing him, "This may take a couple of days. I don't have all the necessary equipment in my own section and I'll have to sneak some time with Tony's equipment, if you want this done quietly."

Loki groaned, asking, "Can't you accomplish it more quickly? I need the results immediately!"

"Can you cover for me with them _immediately_?" Jane mimicked, just tolerating him for the moment as she nodded towards what was on the other side of her lab door. "I'm going to have to see if I can even find the necessary apparatuses."

"Gladly." Loki nodded, a grin stealing over his face as he imagined the different scenarios that he could play with here.

Seeing the way he was smiling, Jane added despairingly, "And please don't kill anyone; it would look bad for me, considering the whole 'I just got in between a bunch of weapons for you' thing."

"All shall remain breathing, I promise," Loki said, remembering, "I've exerted my magic enough today that it's a bad idea to use any more than necessary."

"Good," Jane answered, sliding open the door that went into Bruce's lab and stepping into his space.

Loki, however, found it perfectly necessary to conjure up a host of hand-sized spiders on the other side of the door and listen to the others run out of the labs screaming. Jane whirled around wide-eyed, glaring when she realized Loki was the cause of the commotion.

"What?" he asked with an innocent shrug once he could get his laughter under control. "I might not be a villain, but I am still the god of mischief." Jane rolled her eyes when he added helpfully, "And they did all leave."

"How long do you think it'll be before they come back here with suits and night-night guns to take care of… whatever you did?"

"Spiders," Loki supplied, waving his hand to get rid of the pests that neither one of them could see. "Big ones, but they're gone now."

"My point is that you just cut the time I probably have for this test in less than half!"

"Then I guess you'd better hurry," Loki smirked.

Jane growled at him before her features suddenly lit with an idea and she darted into Tony's section. "Jarvis!" she realized.


	6. Chapter 6

Jane lowered voice to ask Jarvis, "Can you run a DNA test without raising anyone's suspicions?"

"Yes," the AI answered.

"Great. Tell me what to do, and let's get this out of the way."

Loki rolled his eyes as Jarvis instructed, "I've opened two ports on the right side of the keyboard a few inches to your left. Insert one sample into each slot, press the "configure" space on the resulting hologram and allow me to work."

"Simple enough," Jane murmured, doing as she had been instructed.

After about a half of a minute of simply standing and waiting, Loki asked impatiently, "How long will this take?"

His answer was for a piece of paper to print out on the left side of the keyboard and Jarvis said, "Your results."

"Thanks," Jane said as she and Loki slipped back into her section of the lab, erasing every indicator that they had been anywhere else. Once they were safely in her space, she all but demanded of Loki, "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

"Are you going to tell me what the results say?"

Jane looked at them before looking back up at Loki with even more curiosity in her eyes. "This shows a parent and child. Why? What is going on, Loki Odinson?"

Feeling like the wind had suddenly bee knocked out of him, Loki took a second to seriously consider teleporting out of the situation – not that Jane would let it go even if he did – but he was saved when the door to Jane's work area was flung open by Stark, who asked wildly, gesturing with an arm that was clad in a piece of his armor, "Where did the spiders go?"

"I took care of them," Loki answered smoothly, surreptitiously snitching the test results from Jane's hand, ignoring the glare she was burning into the back of his head as he glided past Tony. and taking the elevator up a level, going back to Coulson's office.

He knocked, was again called in, and was greeted with a thin-lipped frown beneath angry eyes.

"You wanna tell me what you were doing in Skye's room?" Coulson asked.

Loki didn't even blink before he asked, "What makes you think I was there?"

Stark came up and told me that Jarvis caught you up there. That AI records almost every move made in this base. So I'm going to ask you again – _why were you in Skye's room_?"

"Getting hair for this," Loki admitted, his hand trembling a little as he pushed the piece of paper across Coulson's desk in the other man's direction.

The implications of the test results were just now hitting Loki, and here he was, discussing it with a man he had once killed – a man who, so far as he could tell, had taken it upon himself to be a sort of father-figure to the orphaned "Skye." Hel, actually.

Coulson took it and looked it over, the color draining from his face as he sat back in his chair and eventually croaked out the accusation, "You falsified this."

"I did not," Loki answered, his own voice suddenly sounding a little rattled even to his own ears. "Jane helped me; she ran the samples through the AI."

"What the heck am I supposed to do about this?!" Coulson asked loudly, suddenly surging to his feet and waving the paper around.

"I… didn't quite think that far ahead," Loki admitted, feeling uncharacteristically hesitant to wade into wherever this was leading him.

"Of course you didn't," Coulson snapped, apparently forgetting his past with the Asgardian in favor of being protective of Skye – and angry. "So, what do you want to do now, since you're so keen on having your own way regardless of what I say? What? No answer? Then _why_ would you do _this_?" Coulson asked furiously, waving the paper in Loki's face. "Why would you do this to her when she finally feels like she's gained some semblance of a family in her team? Answer me!"

"I… I had to know," Loki answered, trying to retain some sort of calm.

" _Why_?"

Loki's tone was almost gentle as he explained, "Because this is my child that we're talking about."

The anger visibly seeped out of Coulson at that, and he sank back down into his chair, dropping his head down into his hands as he repeated in a nearly desperate tone, "What are we going to do?"

Loki thought for a moment, the silence becoming thick with uncertainty until he said finally, "We don't have to do anything."

"But you want to," Coulson said, taking in the Asgardian's expression.

"Of course I do; she's my daughter," Loki swallowed, not about to explain where he and his thoughts were coming from, but knowing that he needed to try to make Coulson understand. "However, she sees you as her father – and apparently you're a good one to her. That… can be enough for me. I never said that we had to tell her whatever the results were; I said that I wanted to know for myself. Now I know… and I can make that enough. Don't you Midgardians have a saying? 'If you love her, you let her go'?"

Coulson smiled ever so faintly and nodded, something akin to respect taking up wary residence in his eyes. He sighed deeply then, his relief obvious as he murmured, "So this is just between you and me?"

"And my wife?"

Coulson nodded his assent, adding, "I'd probably better tell Agent May as well."

"And no one else."

"No one else," Coulson agreed. And then, very quietly, "Thank you, Loki."

Loki smiled sadly, saying before he took his leave of the office, "Consider it my penance."

Both of the men were so lost in their own thoughts that it never even crossed their minds to realize that Jarvis had recorded the entire conversation. Much less would they wonder if Skye had been watching the live feed – but she had.


	7. Chapter 7

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" asked Coulson, springing up from his chair without caring that his loud reaction to May's declaration was probably to be considered a little extreme.

"Ward wanted to talk to her about something," May explained , watching him carefully. "So he looked for her; when he couldn't find her, he asked Jarvis for her whereabouts, and was informed that she'd left the base about an hour ago."

An hour ago. Coulson groaned. That was around the same time his conversation with Loki about his daughter - Hel, Skye, whoever she was - had ended. Had Skye overheard the conversation somehow? And then he realized that, yes, she had. Jarvis recorded nearly everything that happened in the base at all times since he'd been set up following Stark's arrival, and Skye had been keeping track of how he was functioning thus far. So, yes, she more than likely had heard.

How could he have been so negligent?!

"Phil," May said a little sharply, snapping him out of beating himself up. "What do you want us to do?"

"She just vanished?" Phil checked.

"Not exactly; Jarvis recorded that she headed northward, but once she got outside of the parameters of his cameras, he lost sight of her."

"Then tell everybody to head north and spread out, looking for her."

May nodded, but Phil could tell that she was holding something back, so he asked, "What else?"

She sighed heavily before revealing, "I checked the video feed of when Skye left. She was carrying a backpack, and it was pretty stuffed. Is there any chance that she… doesn't want to be caught? That she's running away?" Phil slammed a hand furiously down onto his desk, eyes blazing, but Melinda wasn't deterred, asking coaxingly, "Why would she do that?"

"Because she found out some very disturbing news earlier today by accident," Phil bit out, rounding his desk and heading for his office door.

He needed to get out from between these four walls, but he had never dreamed that this would be the reason why. Flinging the door open, he screamed, more for his own release than any necessity, "Everybody assemble at the entry to the base!"

Koenig and Pepper were the only two others who were nearby, but Ward and Barnes came in from the bullpen on the other side of the offices, and three out of the four of them wore confused - and slightly terrified - expressions.

Jarvis called out in his monotone, "Would you like me to spread the message?"

"Yes, please, Jarvis," Pepper answered for Phil before asking the director, "What's wrong?"

Ward queried, "Is it Skye?"

Phil nodded mutely, charging into the elevator. Ward and May followed him in, but Barnes, Koenig, and Pepper employed a little more self-preservation, taking the stairs instead.

" _What_ is going on?" Melinda demanded when the doors slid closed.

Phil's answer was clipped as he informed her, "Nothing we're going to discuss."

"Is Skye sick or something?" Ward guessed, concern creasing his brow.

"Right now, I'd imagine so."

"What's that supposed to mean? Is it terminal?"

"Only if she's suicidal - and I currently wouldn't put that past her."

May muttered a curse as the doors slid open to the fifth level of the base and Trip strode in, and Phil's look alone said that he would say no more on the subject. The fourth floor rendered them who Phil assumed were Fenrir and Jormungandr. At the third floor they picked Hill, and at the second, a distraught-looking Loki and Sigyn.

One look at the female Asgardian, and Phil knew that Loki had told her. At least she didn't seem to have taken it badly.

When they finally reached the room that Phil had called them all to, he went to the front of the room and called out, "Skye left the base about an hour ago without saying anything, and it looks like she means to run away. We can't let that happen, so we need everybody out looking for her. Best as Jarvis' feed can tell us, she headed north with no intent of coming back, so we're going that way too. If you feel more comfortable going in pairs, feel free to do so, but please call me if you spot - or even better, retrieve - Skye. Any questions?"

Simmon's hesitant voice asked, "Why is she running away from us? We're her family."

Phil smiled kindly, answering, "Indeed we are… she's just having a day where she doesn't see it that way. We've got to find her and prove different. So let's go!"

With the exception of Fitz, who stayed behind to see if he could work with Jarvis to get any better of an idea where Skye was, everyone went ahead of Coulson out of the base. When Phil turned to go out as well, a pale hand wrapped firmly around his forearm and Phil's head snapped back around to stare up into Loki's tumultuous blue eyes.

From beside Loki, Sigyn asked quietly, "Do you know why she would leave?"

"Where is she going and is she hurt?" Loki asked urgently.

"I don't know… and probably. Now, don't panic, idiot. She's not sick from anything beyond the fact that she heard our conversation earlier."

Loki did the impossible and became even paler as he verified, "You're sure?"

"Jarvis, has Skye seen the video feed of Loki and mine's discussions today?"

"Yes, sir."

Loki swore as Phil tore his arm impatiently out of the Asgardian's grip and went to search for Skye.

* * *

Bruce did a double-take when he drove slowly past a city park and noticed who he thought was sitting on a park bench. Yes; he'd found her. There was a stuffed SHIELD backpack dropped at the feet of the slumped brunette occupying the bench, and though he couldn't see her face, if her shaking shoulders were any indication, she was crying. His eyebrows drew together with concern as Bruce texted Coulson to inform him that she was safe, parked, and got out of the car, quietly calling Skye's name.


	8. Chapter 8

The girl in question raised her head with watery eyes, laughing without a stitch of mirth when she saw who'd found her. "It had to be you, didn't it?" she asked, thoroughly confusing Bruce. "Did they send you specifically?"

"I don't understand," Bruce said, going to stand in front of Skye. "What's going on here? Coulson seemed to think that you're running away from the team."

"It's best that way," Skye answered brokenly, her eyes drifting back down to her hands where they were fisted together in her lap.

"I doubt that," Bruce replied, sitting down on the edge of the bench beside Skye. "But what makes you think so?"

"I," she answered with a slow, pained matter-of-factness, "Am apparently a monster's bastard."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that I didn't know who my parents were?"

Bruce nodded, catching the one word that meant… "But you do now?"

Skye nodded, making an attempt at brushing away her tears. "I was okay with what had happened in my past, with how SHIELD had always had me moved from foster home to St. Agnes to foster home and back. I was okay with not knowing who my parents were because now I felt like SHIELD was my family. SHIELD isn't going to want anything to do with me now."

"You do realize," Bruce pointed out. "That every current member of SHIELD is at this very moment on a search for you, right? That means that they do want you."

"But Coulson won't. Probably already doesn't."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because… like I said, I am apparently the bastard child of a monster, which makes me a monster in turn; that's how genetics work, right?"

"Yes and no," Bruce answered, settling in and getting comfortable on the bench. "One thing you need to realize about me, Skye, is that the word 'monster' is not really going to impress me, my particular 'friend' considered. You're not going to get me to go away just by using it. Secondly, being a monster… can be as much a moral thing as a genetic thing. To which are you referring?" Skye shrugged, so Bruce said, "Humans are-"

Skye interrupted with, "But I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Human. I'm Asgardian. Jotun, actually, according to his file. And they're monsters. A literal race of monsters. That's genetics. Heck, either way, the man who's genes are inside of me? He's definitely a moral monster, too."

"But that doesn't make _you_ a monster."

"No, it makes me a Jotun. Didn't the Asgardians try genocide on them?"

Bruce nodded slowly, thinking over what to say to get through to her. And then it struck him. "Skye," he ordered suddenly. "Hold my hand."

"Do what?!"

"Just do it."

So she did, and Bruce held up their connected hands as if the contact were evidence of some sort - and it kind of was. "See."

"No, I don't _see_."

Bruce explained, "According to everything that I can find out about Jotuns, their very touch can give you frostbite." He nodded towards their hands, continuing, "You're touching me, and I'm not getting frostbite, so obviously - at the very worst - you've got something that covers up any part of you that might be a Jotun. And even if you are 'half a monster,' you can still live a normal life." Well, as close to normal as one could get, anyway. "And it most certainly doesn't change whether or not SHIELD - your family, by the way - wants you to be with them. They do."

Staring down at her hands again, Skye asked so very quietly that Bruce almost didn't hear her, "Even if my father is… Loki?"

"Loki?" Bruce repeated, astonishment softening the volume of his voice.

Skye nodded, curling even further into herself.

Having not yet released Skye's hand, Bruce squeezed her fingers, silently demanding eye contact as he reminded her, "Loki's at the base, too, Skye."

"Only because Thor got shady for a second," Skye muttered.

"But he's there, and so is his wife and already two of his sons with three more on the way - plus his mother and niece. If you're not from earth-"

"I overheard Coulson and Loki talking about it. I'm a Jotun."

"Okay. Even so, if Loki is… your father, then, if I remember the myths correctly, he has two sons by the same woman that gave birth to his daughter. A sea snake and a wolf named Fenrir."

"Like in Harry Potter?" Skye asked with a small sniff.

"I hope not," Bruce smiled. "But my point is that they're letting those boys, who have the exact same paternity as Loki's daughter, become a part of SHIELD. To say that you would be unwanted because you have the same blood as them is ridiculous - and I'd even venture to say that you know it is." Bruce studied her for a second before he asked, "Don't you?"

Her minute shrug was one of a petulant child who knew they'd been beaten, and that was when Bruce realized that he might just be able to get her to go back to the Playground now. "Then why don't we test my theory and go back to base?"

* * *

It was on the tip of Skye's tongue to say that she didn't want to. She didn't want to have to face them. To tell them who she was - what she was. But then she remembered what Loki had said - that they didn't have to say a word about it. Nothing had to change. But things had. Could she act like they hadn't? Well, she wasn't quite willing to give up the only family she'd ever known without giving it a try.

"Okay," she murmured, shoving to her feet and swinging her backpack onto her shoulder. "I'll go back. It's not like you wouldn't have made me go back whether or not I wanted to, so I might as well go willingly, right?"

Bruce considered this as they got in his car, eventually saying, "I probably wouldn't have, actually, but before I let you go, I would've found a way to make sure that you hadn't disabled the tracker on your phone."

"Do you mean the phone that I took the sims card out of a block back?" Skye asked sweetly.

"Tony still could've located you if we wanted you back."

Skye shrugged - both of them knew that was the truth - before she turned and rested her forehead against the glass of the window, letting the rest of the ride pass in silence.


	9. Chapter 9

Just before Bruce parked the vehicle, he reminded Skye, "They love you. And those of us who don't know you well enough yet to love you will be there for you anyway because you're SHIELD, just like the rest. You said at the park that SHIELD is your family and - whether or not you've found your biological family - if Phil Coulson is the type of man I think he is, surrounding himself with the type of people I think he would, that hasn't changed. You understand?"

"Yeah," Skye murmured.

"Do you believe me?"

Skye couldn't help the nervous smile that played at the edges of her lips as she assured him, "Yes."

And strangely enough, where Coulson and her team were concerned, she meant it. But part of what still gave her such pause was that she didn't know whether or not she would qualify Ward as a part of that team…

The idea of facing them all knowing that she was _Loki's_ biological daughter suddenly struck her with very real terror, and despite what she'd just told Dr. Banner, she _did not_ want to actually face them, whether or not they'd be there for her.

And suddenly… she didn't have to.

One moment she had been in Dr. Banner's vehicle, and the next, as if by sheer force of will, she was alone in her bedroom. She screamed. And people – so many people – came running.

But before she even heard their footsteps, the last person in the world that she wanted to see was already in her bedroom, crouching carefully down in front of her, and trying to calm her.

"Go away, Loki!" Skye screeched, followed quickly by a few expletives and a shrill "What just happened?"

Realizing that she had ended up curled into a ball on the floor with her back flat against the wall, Skye curled even further into herself as Loki calmly answered her question, instead of her command, as she would've highly preferred. "You did what I just did. Teleported."

"Not possible," Skye bit out, eyes wide and rattled despite Loki's totally unassuming stance and tone.

"Yes, it is."

This from a voice an octave deeper than Loki's and even more unfamiliar. Skye looked at her bedroom doorway to find the aforementioned outpouring of humanity clustered as close as they could get to her doorway. At the front of the group was Coulson, Ward, Sigyn, and a twenty-four year old man with as much facial hair as Thor. The latter must have spoken.

"Although," the man spoke again, admitting, "I'm not sure how, in your case."

"We are," Loki said, glancing at the young man over his shoulder.

Skye asked instantly, "Who's 'we?'"

Coulson moved to kneel at her side then, as he answered slowly, "Me, Loki, and Sigyn."

"No one else?" Skye inquired, an edge of pleading in her voice.

"No one else," Coulson murmured against her hair, wrapping his arms around her when she leaned her head on his chest.

"Daddy, help me," Skye begged in a whisper, clinging tightly to Coulson as she screwed her eyes closed to stop another onslaught of tears and ignored the way that Loki had just flinched.

The man that she'd come to look up to as a father kissed her hair, whispering, "It's okay. Nothing has to change if you don't want it to. He already said so."

"I heard him," Skye choked. "But that doesn't mean that things haven't changed. I apparently just _teleported_! That's definitely new."

"And we'll find an explanation as to why that happened," Coulson promised in the same even tone, quiet enough that no one outside of her and Loki could hear him.

"I believe I might actually have the answer to that," Loki broke in slowly.

Skye's eyes snapped up to his face as she ground out hatefully, "How?"

Loki swallowed nervously, his gaze actually darting away as he replied, "I may have done a bit of prodding at the dormant magic that you already possessed when I got here. That prodding may have awakened your magic, but since you haven't used it before, it's not well harnessed. That would be why, when you simply wished to be able to get away from seeing the others, you were able to – by simply teleporting to your own quarters here."

"Magic inside of me?" Skye scoffed, laughing in lieu of losing it – which was seeming more and more like a possibility, the longer this day went on, the more she learned.

"I can teach you how to use it affectively," Loki offered. "Perhaps even how to suppress it, if you'd rather."

"I do not want you anywhere near me," Skye snapped.

Honest to goodness grief cut across Loki's features and his eyelids fluttered as if… surely not to ward off tears? – but he answered her with a carefully measured "as you wish" before he stood and left her room.

Skye buried her face in Coulson's shoulder again, listening gratefully as most of the others dispersed after him. Once they had gone, Coulson tilted her chin up and brushed her hair out of her face, searching her eyes and trying to measure how she was doing. Her team had remained and now surrounded them – Trip standing at the edge of the group, Fitz sitting in his wheelchair beside him, May standing behind Coulson and gripping one of his shoulders for moral support, Jemma kneeling on one side of Skye and holding one of her hands. And on Skye's opposite side was Ward, who obviously didn't know what to do with himself but wasn't willing to leave her either.

No one besides Coulson understood what was going on, why she was falling apart, and yet they were all here, all helping her the only way they knew how. And it was then that she saw just how right Dr. Banner was. They would be here no matter what. Well… she glanced at Ward – she knew that most of them would be here for her, anyway.

But in that moment she needed proof, and she needed it the only way she could think to get it.

So Skye looked at Coulson asking quietly, "Can we tell them?"


	10. Chapter 10

"Tell us what?"

The automated voice of Fitz' text-to-speech device was loud in the quiet that had been presiding over the room, but it seemed to break through Skye's wall of emotions. She straightened up, wiping away the last of her tears, raking her hair away from her face before she spoke, declaring in a voice that was much stronger than she felt, "Today, I found out who my parents are."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Jemma asked timidly, looking at Skye with confusion in her eyes – confusion that matched the gazes of the others.

"Apparently not when you're an 0-8-4," Skye replied.

"Why?" Trip asked.

May was more to the point with, "Who are they?"

Skye took a deep breath, meeting the eyes of each of her team members before she spoke – she wanted to see them look at her kindly at least one more time – and then, "I'm not sure what my mother's name is, but my father is… Loki."

In the following long seconds of silence, Skye realized a few things. Before this moment, she'd never actually seen the color drain from May's face. Her teammates were all amazingly quick with – and apparently good at – digesting this. Ward… was holding her hand.

At that last realization, Skye blinked down at their intertwined hands. She wanted to pull away, but she didn't want to, either, and at that particular moment she didn't really care enough nor have enough strength to do it. Besides, the touch was kind of nice – reassuring. As was Ward's steady, calm gaze when he caught her eye. So she squeezed his hand and leaned towards him, just barely, when he tightened his own grip in response. Right now she didn't care about Ward's treachery or lies – after all, it was what she was expecting from everyone in the base now – and his touch was comfortingly familiar.

His fingertips began to trace invisible patterns on her hand, Coulson and Jemma kept their arms wrapped around her, and Skye slowly relaxed, letting their actions and love for her seep into her very soul.

Yet one question remained.

Though it was obvious that those currently surrounding her meant for their relationships with her to be left unchanged – again Ward flitted through her thoughts – Skye could only wonder how she was supposed to proceed with Loki and his family.

* * *

"Loki!"

The moment that Loki was out of hearing range of Skye's quarters, Jane and her surprisingly demanding tone of voice stopped him in the middle of the hallway, inquiring sharply with eyes dark enough to match her tone, " _What_ was that DNA test about?"

"Leave it alone, Jane," Loki drawled, impatiently trying to step around her.

She stayed stubbornly in his way, saying, "Thor told me in the past that you have a missing daughter. During a bit of quality time with Jarvis while you were gone getting your sons, I learned that Skye is an 0-8-4 who doesn't know who her parents are. I did a DNA test for you and suddenly Skye's losing it. I am not stupid, Loki! You will tell me what that DNA test was for."

Loki was caught somewhere between a smirk and a snarl as he asked, "Will I?"

" _Yes_."

"Fine," Snarl won out. "Even if I were to tell you that, yes, Skye is my daughter, what good does that information do you, especially considering that she wants nothing to do with me?"

Mortifying tears pressed at the backs of Loki's eyes and he bodily forced his way past a suddenly wide-eyed Jane. Despite his exhaustion – physical, mental, and emotional – he racked up enough energy for one more teleportation and landed in his and Sigyn's bedroom of the base. Flopping face down on the bed, he buried his head in a pillow and screamed until he was hoarse.

This was not how finding his daughter was supposed to go.

* * *

Bruce's eyes fluttered closed as he leaned back against a table, finding solace in the current silence of the lab level. Talking with Skye had touched on a good dozen of his old nerves, and scraped as many of them raw. He needed some solitude in which to put his thoughts back to rights.

But his desired solitude was entirely too short-lived when he heard two sets of feet step off of the elevator and Tony called out, "Green Giant, are you in here?"

"Bruce is, but the 'green giant' might be if you don't leave me alone."

Totally undeterred, Tony came into Bruce's lab anyway, Dr. Selvig following behind him, and the latter looked much more nervous than the former, considering Bruce's declaration.

Bruce, for one, stifled a groan. By now he had learned that when these particular two approached him together, they always had one thing – and only that one thing – on their minds.

Dr. Elisabeth Ross.

Selvig, to his credit, was concerned solely with what Betty could bring to SHIELD as a scientist. Tony, on the other hand, wanted Betty here because he knew of her past with Bruce – d*** Jarvis' SHIELD-file hacking skills. The billionaire wanted to see her and Bruce get back together. Bruce just didn't want to see her get hurt – and he believed that the best way to do that was to keep her away from all things SHIELD-related, and he included himself on that list.

"What can I do for you two?" Bruce asked, trying to keep his wariness out of his tone as he allowed his eyes to slide closed again.

Selvig volunteered, "We had a thought."

To which Tony added brightly, "About Dr. Ross."

"Imagine that," Bruce drawled under his breath, and then, at a volume loud enough to be heard, "Can we please not have this conversation today? Not right now; it's been a hard day."

"Because of Skye?" Erik asked knowingly. When Bruce's eyes flew open to meet Selvig's, the other man explained, "I searched for Skye with Jane and while we were out, she told me about the theory she had about Skye and Loki."


	11. Chapter 11

"After which he came and talked to me, wanting to know if you told me any of what Skye told you," Tony continued.

"But I didn't," Bruce pointed out.

"No," Tony drawled. "But then Jane came and told Selvig that Loki had just confirmed her theory."

"And you overheard this via Jarvis?" Bruce guessed moodily.

"That's beside the point," Tony said, hurriedly moving onto his point and thereby confirming Bruce's theory. The point seems to me to be that Skye needs help seeing that she's not a monster."

Ah, here it was – how this all related to Betty…

"And I suspect," Tony kept on hopefully. "That Betty could be the one to help her with that."

"I bet you do," Bruce replied, letting an edge creep into voice as well as darkness into his eyes.

Dr. Selvig scuttled after a moment of tense silence, but after living with Bruce since Manhattan, Tony was not to be swayed.

"Am I wrong?" the billionaire asked, looking like he already knew the answer.

Bruce's glare darkened and he stayed silent, but when Tony only smirked, Bruce relented and ground out, "Fine; I'll go talk to Coulson about her. Jarvis, tell Director Coulson I want to meet him in his office in three minutes."

"Yes, sir."

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Tony wheedled.

"Tony, get out of my lab," Bruce ordered. "Apparently, I have a meeting with Coulson to put the love of my life on a kill list."

"It's not that bad!" Tony protested as the two of them headed into the elevator.

"You'd better hope it's not."

* * *

"Director Coulson?" Jarvis' unwelcome voice cut through the quiet in Skye's bedroom, declaring, "Dr. Banner requires your presence in your office in three minutes."

Coulson sighed heavily, looking at Skye when she pulled away from him, and even Grant could tell their boss was conflicted. Skye saw it too, and nodded, giving Coulson permission to leave her.

"I'm okay now," she said with a watery smile. "You all can go about your business. Really. I'll be okay. I'm just being a drama queen anyway. I'm good." Skye wriggled her way out of Coulson's and Simmon's arms but inconspicuously kept her hand in his. "Get out, all of you. I'm fine. Go on about your lives. May, Trip, go train. Coulson, go talk to Dr. Banner, Fitzsimmons, go… be scienc-y." Skye smiled affectionately, leaving out any directives for Grant as she said, "Go on. I am fine."

_What are you going to do?_ Fitz queried, while May watched Ward carefully, assessing him.

"I've got a couple of people I need to talk to," Skye answered easily.

Grant sincerely hoped that he was one of those people.

And he must have been, because once the others all left, Skye moved to sit on the edge of her bed, taking Grant with her since they were still holding hands. A long, heavy silence stretched between them – so many things to say, yet both were so uncomfortable at the idea of actually saying them – before Grant broke it with the one question that he could think of.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay with it?" Skye shot the question back at him, taking him by surprise and leaving him a little confused.

"What?"

Skye's eyes flitted closed, as if she couldn't quite bear to look at him as she spoke. "I…"

"Skye?" Grant said softly, gently tilting her chin up with one finger, watching her eyes ease open before he caught and held her gaze. "What is it?"

"I… I don't want you to think of me differently, Grant."

"I don't think of you any differently than I did before," Grant assured her, not missing her usage of his first name.

"'Before' when?"

That was a loaded question, considering all that they'd been through, and it was one that Grant wasn't sure how to answer. So he asked a question of his own instead.

"Why?"

"Because…"

Again Skye's eyes, swimming with raw, painful uncertainty, skittered away from his, and she seemed to be at a loss for words. A moment later, in answer to his question, she did the one thing that Grant had been longing to do since he'd first seen her again – she leaned into him and crashed her lips against his.

When Skye broke the contact and before she looked down at her hands, Grant saw that shyness had joined the other emotions in her eyes as she admitted, "Because I think I might still have feelings for you."

"Good," Grant whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. "Because I _know_ I still love you."

An expression that might have been a smile flashed across Skye's face, and Grant did the only thing he could think to do to keep it there. He kissed her again.

* * *

Coulson was exhausted and possibly even upset at having been called into his office; Bruce could tell that much when he first laid eyes on the director, and he couldn't blame the other man. It had been a hard day for everyone – some admittedly more so than others.

Coulson, however, must have seen something he liked in Bruce's expression, because his own features relaxed as he took the seat behind his desk and asked knowingly, "Have Dr. Selvig and Stark actually talked you into asking about whoever they've been after you about?"

"Dr. Elisabeth Ross," Bruce answered shortly.

"Yeah," Coulson said with something that resembled a smile. "I figured as much. As a matter of fact, I've already called and talked to her the day that Thor left for Asgard. She agreed to come, but I told her that I wanted someone – hopefully you – to come to me about her first before she showed up. So she's been waiting for my call for the past couple of days. She's ready and willing to help as soon as the jet can come and pick her up."

Bruce ran a hand over his face, asking, "And when will that be?"

"Tomorrow at the very earliest."

Bruce nodded, taking a deep breath and heading for the door of Coulson's office without further conversation beyond a simple, "Okay."


	12. Chapter 12

Skye was startled when she stepped into the kitchen of the fifth floor later that evening to find that the five people that lived on the same level as her where already clustered in the room and eating their supper. Hoping to be ignored, Skye headed silently for the fridge with her head down, but she didn't get her way.

"Hey," Natasha spoke up, asking, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Skye lied, not looking at any of them, keeping her head buried in the fridge instead.

"Then are you going to tell us what was up earlier?"

Skye cringed, answering, "Maybe eventually… but probably not."

"Do you have _someone_ to talk to about it, then?" Natasha asked, and when Skye finally stepped away from the refrigerator, the assassin's gaze was unusually caring, especially considering that they'd only become familiar with one another within the past couple of weeks.

Ward's face flashed before Skye's eyes, but she glanced at Jemma as she answered, "Yeah."

Natasha nodded, seemingly satisfied to back off of the topic.

"Okay then," Skye said, disappearing back into the solitude of her room with a bowl of leftover pasta.

She had research that she wanted to do.

* * *

Phil's head landed against the closed door of his medicine cabinet with a soft thud as he stood in his pajamas, having just taken two desperately needed pain killers. This day had utterly sucked, and if he had to face another like it… well, he didn't know what he would do, but he knew he wouldn't be able to be held responsible for whatever it was.

"Phil?"

He hadn't heard Melinda come in, but he didn't bother with being startled by her presence as she crept in and with just one look at his exhausted stance silently led him from the bathroom and into his bed. She actually tucked the covers in around him, and only then did he notice that she, too, was already dressed for bed.

"It'll be okay," she promised, giving him a gentle kiss before she turned to go back to her own room.

He mumbled nothing in particular as he reached out and grabbed her wrist, requesting, "Stay with me?"

Melinda blinked, nodded, and then rounded the bed, crawling in beside him and pulling him close.

"Promise?" Phil asked.

He'd confused her; he could tell by the tone of her voice as she asked, "Promise what?"

He hated himself for saying it, but after today – after Loki… Skye… he needed to hear it from someone. "That you'll stay."

"Of course I will," she replied, understanding where he was coming from and kissing him again.

"You won't leave me for someone else?"

"Never… just like Skye won't leave Daddy Coulson for the devil in green."

That drew a hesitant smile from Phil as he let his exhaustion overtake him and finally allowed himself to slide off to sleep.

* * *

"Loki?" Sigyn's voice was unusually caring – something like how she would've spoken to him before he'd dropped off of the Rainbow Bridge – when she came into their shared bedroom that night. "Are you alright?"

Loki's lips curled against the pillow that he still had his face buried in and he only released a muffled groan as something was clinked down onto the bedside table.

"That bad?" Sigyn asked, the sound of her voice accompanied by the scraping of a dresser drawer being opened.

Loki turned his face to answer with his cheek now pressed against the pillow, "Quite possibly, yes."

"I'm sorry," Sigyn said gently. "I know that this isn't what you wanted finding Hela to be like."

Loki was silent for a long moment while he tried to shove away his sulking and said, "It's not your fault."

"Well, I haven't been very supportive, have I?" came his wife's muffled reply.

Loki was tired enough – emotionally, physically, and mentally drained enough – that he admitted the first thing that came to mind. "That's been quite the two-way street, so that I recall."

So saying, he rolled onto his back on the bed in time to see Sigyn's head pop through the appropriate hole in her nightgown. He blinked, and it suddenly hit him that for the first time in about four years, he was to share a bedchamber with his bride. The question that suddenly consumed his mind was whether or not she would throw him out of said chamber like she'd done in the past.

When he got a good look at her expression though, she was smiling, so he took that as a good sign.

Then she said – with something that resembled affection in her tone, "Let's try getting back to the old paths then, shall we?"

"Such as?"

" _Such as_ giving… our marriage a second chance, perhaps?"

At that, Loki actually, genuinely smiled, saying, "I would like that."

"Good," Sigyn said with a smile of her own and a decisive nod of her head. "You can start with the fact that I brought you dinner." She nodded to the bedside table and Loki saw then that she had indeed brought him food. "You need to eat. Are you aware of how long you were up here?"

"I was sleeping," Loki mumbled, picking up the plate and digging in nonetheless.

Sigyn cocked her head to the side, surveying him as she stepped up to the bed and crawled in beside him before saying, "And… grieving, I suspect."

"Grieving what?" he asked, trying for a dubious expression.

His wife was unconvinced, laying a hand on his knee as she said, "Loss of a dream, lack of the desired results. The achievement of a dream is rarely as gratifying as the imagining of that dream would have us believe it to be."

Loki groaned, throwing his head back against the wall as he admitted, "All I want to know is what perverted joke of the Norns is it that Philip Coulson has taken in my daughter as his own."

"Maybe you could both be considered her father?" Sigyn suggested mildly. Loki looked at her incredulously, but Sigyn only squeezed his knee saying gently, "If you want any relationship with her at all, those may well be the terms that you have to agree to."

Loki sighed, shoulders slumping as he admitted, "I know."


	13. Chapter 13

Skye didn't sleep that night; she didn't even try. She didn't even go to bed, actually, certain as she was that only further restlessness and nightmares would be waiting for her. Eventually, she fell asleep at her computer in her office on the seventh level of the base, where Ward found her early the next morning.

"Hey," he whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. "Rise and shine, sleepy head. Coulson said that you and I have to go with Dr. Banner to pick up Dr. Ross in Alexandria."

"What?" Skye muttered tiredly, absently flicking locks of mussed hair out of her face.

"Coulson needs the two of us on the jet to Alexandria, Virginia, in twenty minutes."

"Why so early?" Skye moaned, head flopping listlessly back onto her desk.

"Because it's going to be a five-hour round trip, and Coulson wants us all back here by the time that the others get back from Asgard."

"Whyyyyy?"

Now Ward was biting back a laugh as he answered, "Because he wants all of us here for the meeting that we're going to have at nine."

"It's two-thirty in the freaking morning, Ward; get the heck away from me."

"Nope; sorry, you've got to get going."

Skye gave up and stumbled to her feet and out of her office, declaring under her breath, "I hate my life."

"I know, baby," Ward said, still smiling as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "Does it help to know that I've missed 'Skye in the morning'."

Her answering glare made him laugh out loud, and Skye debated whether or not to stomp on his foot, while the thought crossed her mind to wonder if she could get that whole teleporting trick to work for her again.

* * *

Once all three of them were safely in the jet, Bruce called Betty, nervous to speak for her for the first time in over six years, but still wanting her to get an idea of what was going on where SHIELD – and Skye – was concerned before she was thrown headfirst into the whole mess. The following conversation with Betty was more of a business call than anything, but it was still nice. It was good to talk to her, to get comfortable with her again, before actually being face to face after all the time that had passed. It was something that he, at least, had needed. So the two scientists talked for two and a half hours on the jet while Ward and Skye slept across from him, curled into one another and oblivious to the world.

By the time the jet landed in Alexandria before five-thirty a.m., Skye and Ward were just starting to stir into wakefulness, and Bruce was smiling with anticipation at once again seeing the woman who was in fact the love of his life. Chances were that he would have to thank Tony and Selvig for pushing him into bringing her up to Coulson.

Once they were off of the plane, Betty was all business, getting her things and the four of them onto the jet and headed back towards Kansas City in record time. It was only once they were settling back onto the plane for the return ride that she showed any of the actual emotions that Bruce knew she had to be feeling. Skye and Ward took the two seats on one side of passenger area, so Betty settled into one of the other two, watching Bruce board the plane last. He sat slowly down beside her, and saw the soft blush that blossomed in her cheeks.

"Hi," he said simply, pulling her hand into his.

She squeezed, replying softly, "Hey," before laying her head over on his shoulder.

And that was it; that was all that it took for "Bruce and Betty" to become a relationship again in their minds. But surely… Bruce's mind scrambled over the thought that surely there had to be more to it than that. But there wasn't, and there didn't have to be. They'd already been through so much together in the past that the simple grasping of hands was all that needed to be said for the other's intentions to be understood.

And that was really nice – useful even – considering why Skye and Ward were currently on the plane with the two of them. Now that the younger two had gotten in a good nap, they seemed more inclined to stay awake and – Bruce hoped – talk.

Apparently Betty was thinking the same thing, because she looked at Bruce and ever so slightly inclined her head towards the duo opposite them, eyes asking if they were who Bruce had told her about. He nodded just as slightly, and she gave him a look that he knew he was supposed to take as a go-ahead.

"Can I get myself in some trouble here?" Bruce asked, directing the question mostly towards Skye. "Tony brought out a point yesterday that convinced me to… be okay with letting Betty into SHIELD."

"What's that?" Skye asked carefully.

Bruce took a deep breath, his grip on Betty's hand tightening a little before she began to run a fingertip over the inside of his palm, all at once calming him and setting the nerve endings in his hand on fire. "He… pointed out that… Betty… is used to – that is, she's good at, um…"

Betty looked at him out of the corner of her eye, suggesting, "Making people feel human again."

Ward took a very deep breath, his eyes suddenly flashing protectiveness as he pulled Skye – who had visibly shrank into herself at Betty's words – even closer to him as he asked sharply, "What are you saying?"

Bruce held up a finger as a way of telling the younger man to calm down, directing his answer towards Skye, "I'm saying that after the conversation you and I had yesterday when I found you-" Here he locked his eyes on Skye's. "-I am concerned for you. Not the least reason for which is the fact that you instantly darted like you did, and for the reasons that you did."

"Isn't that a little hypocritical?" Ward asked dryly.

"I'd like to consider it more of a… statement of 'I know what you're going through', Skye, and I think that Betty might be able to help you through it."

"No disrespect," Skye spoke for herself for the first time, still curled into Ward. "But I don't need your help, Dr. Ross."


	14. Chapter 14

"Fair enough; I suspected you didn't," Betty said, surveying the duo before her with eyes that were seeing more than she let on before she nodded in Ward's direction, asking, "But you need his, don't you?"

Skye blinked guiltily and moved to pull herself out of Ward's embrace.

"No," Betty intervened. "Please don't on my account. That's not what I was after. You need people right now to help you wrap your head around this and learn to deal with it – however and whoever that might be. But right now, I need something from both of you, okay?" Ward and Skye both looked at her skeptically, but didn't comment, so she continued, saying, "I need you, Skye, to promise me that there will be no more running away from your team; there's too many people in that base for one of them not to be able to help you with whatever's going through your head that makes you want to leave. Agreed?"

Skye's gaze skittered away, first to the floor and then to Ward who caught her eye, and Bruce saw the moment the hardened agent dropped his walls and allowed his expression to show just how much he, too, wanted Skye to commit to the promise. "Okay," the hacktivist replied.

Then Ward and Skye both turned their attention back to Betty and Ward's fiercely protective body language instantly slammed back over him.

Betty looked at Ward pointedly – fearless little crazy woman that she had a propensity to be – and said, "And you – I need you to calm down. We're not going all 'capture and experiment on the monsters and kill anyone who gets in our way.' According to Bruce, no one you are currently sharing that base with is doing that, nor are they going to do so. Believe me, if something like that happens, I will be right there at the front lines fighting them right beside you – but until that time… you may need to be a breath of sanity here every once in awhile, and you can't do that if you're strung as tight as a bowstring too, agreed?"

Betty's sharpness had startled Ward, Bruce saw it, and so did his… girlfriend, judging by the expression that she tried to cover up quickly. "Uh, yeah."

"So I'm extracting a verbal promise right now in front of witnesses, just in case I need to remind you of it later. _If_ Skye – regardless of whatever she may go through in getting herself evened out again emotionally and mentally – needs someone to come to, to lean on, can you be that person? Be that rock for her?"

Well, someone was in the mood to be bluntness personified – and Bruce was inordinately glad for it, and for the fact that it didn't have to be him.

"Yes, of course," Ward said. He wrapped his arms even tighter around Skye and kissed her on the forehead, saying gently to her, "I know you're not ready to talk about it, but I am here; my shoulder's free."

That meant something to the two of them, Bruce saw. An inside joke of sorts?

Skye answered with a tone that was just as intimate, "Another time, maybe."

"Well, you know where I live."

Skye grinned – the first real smile Bruce had seen from her since she fled from the base – and leaned up to kiss Ward, whispering something so quietly that Bruce could only tell what it was from reading her lips. And what it was made Bruce have to bite his lip to keep from smiling. _I love you._

Ward's replying "I love you" was immediate and sincere, and at that, Bruce let himself smile.

"I think we have been totally forgotten."

Bruce jumped at the sound of Betty's voice whispering near his ear, and he turned towards her to see those luminous, absolutely unforgotten, blue eyes sparkling as they gazed over at him. "That's okay, all things considered," Bruce replied.

"What counts as 'all things'?" Betty asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

"You certainly do, if that's what you're after," Bruce said, leaning even closer to Betty and kissing her.

Betty hummed against his lips, and when she pulled away, she whispered under her breath, pretending to pout, "I would have been okay with a flight to the base consisting of just you and me."

"I know, and I agree, but she needed help."

"She still needs help," Betty corrected. "And so does he."

"Really? Ward?"

"I think that the only reason that he's so angry is because he's hurting here too; he just seems like he's one of the people who does that."

"Well, at least they're surrounded by people who care enough to help them through. That's always nice."

Betty grinned knowingly, saying, "Why do you think I was so quick to extract the promises from them that I did? We can't have one of them running off on the other."

"Was that a stab at me, Dr.?"

"I will allow myself only that one," Betty promised, kissing him again as they kept flying towards the Playground.

Bruce smiled, totally content to sit here beside her and kiss her, ignoring Ward and Skye just like they were ignoring him and Betty.

Yes, he was definitely going to have to thank Tony and Selvig.

* * *

"Good morning," Sigyn said, glancing down at Loki from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed, brushing her long blonde hair.

He mumbled, blinking the last bit of sleep from his eyes as he rolled over and grabbed her wrist. He took the brush from her and kissed her hand before sitting up and finished brushing her hair himself.

"It's time for breakfast, if you're interested," she mentioned off-handedly, but Loki still heard the breathlessness in her voice and it made him smile.

"Is that all you think you're good for – keeping me fed?"

"I was under the impression we'd proved better than that last night after you ate," she said, a teasing smile at the edges of her mouth.


	15. Chapter 15

Loki just smiled again, kissing the back of her neck as separated her hair into three strands. When Sigyn realized what he was doing, she reached behind her and gently batted his hands away.

"You're no good at braids; let me."

"How am I supposed to learn if you don't let me practice?"

Sigyn rolled her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder at him with bright eyes, but obligingly turned her back to him again, giving him permission to continue his work as she brought them back to the original conversation by saying, "Anyway, I was thinking that since we're the only two on this level, maybe we could go eat with Jane and the others on the first level."

"Do we have to?" Loki pouted. "Why not stay here – right here in this room, just you and me?"

"Tempting," Sigyn admitted. "But I want to get to know Jane better, and you need to make a good impression on… everyone."

"Fine," Loki sighed, wanting to push his luck – but just as unwilling to risk it.

Sigyn grinned, giving him a sweet smile and a "thank you" before she stood. Loki grudgingly climbed from the bed and started towards the bathroom, only to be stopped by a small hand on his chest and the most chaste of kisses before his wife went out their bedroom door, instructing him to "come up to the first level when you're dressed."

"Wait a moment," Loki said suddenly, darting to the closet into which he knew his robe had been unpacked. He shrugged the garment on quickly and jogged a couple of steps to catch up with the blonde goddess. Once he was at her side again, he said, "I'm ready now."

Sigyn looked over and up at him in surprise, gaze sweeping over his disheveled appearance before she declared while grinning at him as if he was a mischievous child – which was true enough at times – "No, you're not."

"I would rather stay with you."

Sigyn chuckled and shook her head at him affectionately, calling him a "silly man" and taking his hand as they stepped together into the elevator.

* * *

"Hey, Loki, Sigyn!"

At Dr. Foster's bright exclamation, Jormungandr looked up from his plate of what his uncles girlfriend called "pop-tarts" to see his father and step-mother emerge from the transportation device known as an elevator. Dr. Foster had invited him Jormungandr and Fenrir to eat breakfast on her level, but she seemed happily surprised to see his parents come in.

Jormungandr was surprised in his own right by his parents, but not simply by their mere presence – even if his father was in his bathrobe in the middle of the kitchen. No, it was their countenances that surprised him. He was a quiet young man by nature, and by extension of that, a people-watcher. When his parents had shown up on Jotunheim the morning before, it hadn't taken a horribly keen observer to see that the two of them were not comfortable with one another. In particular, Sigyn had been stand-offish towards the god of mischief, not that anyone was surprised by it, the past years considered.

But what Jormungandr saw before him now did in fact surprise him.

Since the mortal girl had somehow managed teleportation, something had obviously changed for the better between Loki and Sigyn. They were both smiling, and holding hands besides. Sigyn didn't even look like she had done her own hair this morning, judging by the sloppiness of her braid. Perhaps her husband had done it for her?

Jormungandr smiled at the very idea as he surveyed his parents, mentally cataloging all their signs of a marriage in the midst of healing. At his side, Fenrir discreetly caught his eye, their small shared smiles declaring that his brother saw the signs too.

Sleipnir, Narfi, and Vali werer going to adore hearing about this, to say nothing of how Thor and Grandmother Frigga would react.

Speaking of which…

Jarvis' voice came out of the ceiling, declaring, "Everyone has returned, and Director Coulson now wants everyone in the conference room in five minutes."

* * *

Phil was still exhausted on oh so many levels when he took his seat the head of the conference room table at eight a.m. that morning, preparing to once again outline how things would work in the rebuilding of SHIELD. For the sake of the newcomers to their group, he repeated what he had said yesterday, adding that Dr. Ross would be sharing Dr. Banner's workspace in the labs, and then kept right on going into the living arrangements for those that had just come into the base.

"Dr. Ross is living in the last room on the ground floor, her majesty, Frigga, is living on level two. Loki's sons are all on level four. Thrud has found herself on level five." With that out of the way, he continue with the strike team assignments that were unfinished from the day before.

"I did do some changing to the strike teams to accommodate for the added agents, so now what we've got looks like this. Thor will be partnering with Thrud."

Coulson watched them closely, seeing that the expression of Thor's daughter settled into something absolutely thunderous for all of a split second before she slammed down her version of the blank, obedient expression that was so common among soldiers and agents. As a warrior in training on Asgard, Thrud was both. He bit back a sigh and begged the cosmos to allow Loki's instinct to be right where the father-daughter duo was concerned before continuing on.

"Strike team five is Agent Ward and Lieutenant Barnes." He'd noticed the two former HYDRA men doing some male bonding, training things together – becoming friends, being good for one another – and Phil hoped that would carry out into the field.

"Team six is Loki and Sigyn. Seven is Sif and Hogan." At the mention of their names together, both paled just a little, and Coulson noticed both Odinson brothers try not to grin at it. Good for them; it appeared like the infamous rivalry between the brothers over Sif had taken a long walk off of a short pier, and for that Coulson was grateful.


	16. Chapter 16

"Team eight is Fandral and Volstagg. Nine is Narfi and Vali. Ten is Jormungandr and Fenrir. Eleven leaves Sleipnir and Frigga. Good enough? Good. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to bring up? Any other possible agents?"

Natasha cleared her throat, glancing at Steve before she caught Coulson's attention and said, "Sharon Carter and Sam Wilson."

"Sharon _Carter_?" Bucky repeated. "Any relation to Margaret Carter?"

"Her niece," Steve bit out, trying to seem like the relation didn't peeve him as much as Coulson knew it did.

Captain America hadn't heard about the connection until after they'd all already gone their separate ways, but he hadn't initially been happy about it. However, Phil knew that Natasha was right – Agent 13 and Falcon would be good additions to the team, so Cap would just have to get over it if they came to live here.

"I'll look into it," Phil said tiredly.

"I can contact Sam for you," Steve said, obviously wanting to help Phil since it was pretty obvious how exhausted he was.

Maria looked hesitantly at Steve before she added, "And I do have Carter's contact information if you'd like me to take care of that for you."

Phil almost smiled, admitting, "That would be great; thanks. Class dismissed then."

As the others flowed out of the room, Phil stayed where he was, observing their interactions – or, in some cases, lack thereof – with one another.

Loki's five sons were clustered together in a corner, discussing something in hushed tones, with flickering smiles and bright eyes that kept glancing towards Loki and Sigyn. Frigga was surrounded by her sons and their significant others; a happy family reunion was in progress. The other five Asgardians were making their way out of the room, and Phil noticed that Thrud, Sif, and Hogan still looked mildly troubled. Fitzsimmons dashed by them, Simmons sitting on Fitz' lap as he wheeled out the door in his wheelchair. Drs. Banner and Ross were heading up to the labs, an extremely pleased-looking Stark on their heels. Skye was hurrying off to take solace in her office with Ward at her side – apparently they'd struck something of a relationship back up again – while she tried to ignore all the Asgardians congregated around the room.

And it struck Phil then that what he was seeing before him was a perfectly good overview of what was going on in the Playground.

* * *

"This is wonderful news!" Vali said to his brothers, looking around at them where they all were now seated in the living room of their fourth floor quarters.

The oldest of Loki's children, Sleipnir, agreed just as much as anyone else, even if he wasn't Sigyn's biological son, like Narfi and Vali were - but that was another long and embarrassing story. Sleipnir was a bit too caught up in different snippet of what Fenrir and Jomungandr had said while telling them of their parents' apparently rekindled relationship, and he brought it up then.

His eyebrows drew together with curiosity as he asked, "Did I hear you say that a mortal had managed teleportation?"

Loki and Angrboda's sons nodded, and Jormungandr added, "It seemed spontaneous. She didn't really have anyone nearby to help her perform the magic and she wasn't even really aware that she was doing it, or even that she _could_ do it."

"But she did it anyway?" Narfi asked their youngest brother.

"Well, that much was obvious, yes."

"Why?" Fenrir asked Sleipnir, narrowing his eyes at the expression of the eldest brother. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure," Sleipnir murmured. "You said the mortal was a woman?"

Fenrir verified, "She appeared to be about twenty-two."

_As Hela would appear to be, had she ended up on Midgard._

"What are you thinking, brother?" Fenrir repeated.

Sleipnir admitted quietly, "Of Hela."

His brothers collectively froze as they realized exactly where his thoughts were going.

It was Narfi who finally asked carefully, "Do you think this mortal could be our sister?"

Sleipnir shrugged, and Jormungandr added thoughtfully, "That would explain why she was capable of teleportation."

"But why now?" Fenrir asked. "Why would she achieve teleportation now if she'd never been able to do it before?"

"What if something triggered the activation of her capabilities where magic was concerned - if it had been left dormant and then roused somehow?" Jormungandr suggested.

"Roused by what?" Vali asked.

"There are enough magic-capable Asgardians here that any one of them could've found a link to her subconscious," Sleipnir answered.

Narfi began to tick off the possibilities, saying, "Thor isn't capable of getting into people's subconscious, and while Mother is, she won't actually do it unless the situation desperately calls for it. Since Grandmother wasn't even here at the time, that leaves… Father."

"Do you think," Jormungandr asked Fenrir, "That if we're right and she found out about it… could that be the reason behind her fleeing yesterday?"

"Why?" Fenrir asked at the same time as Vali inquired, "What?"

Jormungandr took it upon himself to quickly explain what he meant by answering, "The mortal woman we're discussing - Skye - tried to run away yesterday, but was found and brought back by one of the Avengers. _If_ she is Hela, and _if_ she somehow found out, I could see her being upset by that because she and Director Coulson seem to have a father-daughter relationship of their own, and considering what Father did to Coulson in the past…"

"Of course," Fenrir groused. "Norns forbid this situation should be simple."

"This is all purely conjecture!" Sleipnir reminded them. "We're more than likely wrong."

A familiar voice startled the young men when she spoke from the doorway - Sigyn, saying simply, "But you're not wrong." She stepped slowly into the room, saying as the others all turned to look at her, "You boys are all too brilliant for your own good. Now that you've somehow managed to guess the truth, I need you to promise me something. Promise me that you will not speak of this to Hela until she's ready to talk about it." A chorus of "as you wish," "yes, Mother," and "I promise," met her ears and she smiled. "Good. Now, if you'd like I can help you unpack. Your father's talking to Frigga."


	17. Chapter 17

"You're troubled, my son," Frigga said as soon as she and Loki were alone in her room and had emptied their arms of her things. "Talk to your mother."

Loki's eyes widened upon her for a second and then a ghost of a smile flashed across his face as he sighed and dropped his head, commenting, "You know me too well."

"Perhaps," Frigga allowed. "But perhaps I know of a way to help you resolve whatever it is that's on your mind."

"I doubt that," Loki answered frankly.

"You won't know unless you try…"

Sinking down onto the edge of his mother's bed, he held her gaze for a moment before he ran both hands over his face, allowing all of his emotions to show as he explained every bit of what had transpired within the last thirty hours. By the time he had finished his tale, Frigga had sat down beside him on the bed, her sympathetic eyes studying his distressed features, and he couldn't help adding, "Considering how close she is to Coulson, she hated me even before she met me and now that she knows her biology, I believe she's gone so far as to hate herself… and I don't know how to fix any of it."

"Well," his mother answered slowly, "Maybe you cannot rectify it."

"Then what can I do?" Loki all but whimpered before adding sharply, "Because I refuse to do nothing."

"Of course you do," Frigga answered with a soft smile. "But the problem with you and your brother is that you've never been able to understand that sometimes - and I believe that this may be one of those cases - _waiting_ is all that can be done." Loki growled in aggravation, more than anything because they both knew she was right, and Frigga continued on undeterred, saying, "At the moment, it seems like the best thing to do is take a step back and let her get her own grip on the situation - and let everyone else do the same thing - before anyone tries to build up the familial relations. Don't try to get any closer than she's willing to allow you at any given time, but don't give up on her. Be available for whenever she might be willing to let you help her with this or that, but right now, just… try to be a friend to her."

"But that's hard," Loki complained.

Frigga pulled him into a hug, grinning into his shoulder as she said, "I know. Believe me, my son, I understand. And whenever you need to talk, I'm here for you and willing to listen."

Loki managed a tiny smile at that, murmuring, "I love you too, Mother."

* * *

"There you are, Sigyn!"

The goddess of fidelity obligingly looked up from the book that she had been reading in the second floor sitting room when her mother-in-law came in and sat down on the couch beside her. "Have you been looking for me?"

"Yes; I have a question concerning Loki's daughter."

Sigyn closed the book and Frigga her fullest attention, remarking, "I suppose that means that he told you then?"

"He told me when we were done talking that I now knew everything about it that he did."

"Alright," Sigyn nodded. "What did you want to ask? Though I'm not sure that I can tell you anything that Loki hasn't already."

"I wanted a woman's opinion in the matter. Loki mentioned that Hela was adamant about wanting no training concerning her magic. We all know that's not necessarily wise, and I was curious as to whether or not I might have thought of a way to convince her to learn magic. Does she realize that with some training - considering my powers and Loki's - she will be able to at least be taught how to heal wounds and such?"

"I… don't know," Sigyn admitted, brow drawing together as she asked, "Do you think that would make a difference?"

"I believe it just might, if we can get Hela to consider one thing in particular in a certain way."

"What's that?"

"She is extremely close to her original six teammates, correct?"

"She seems to be, yes."

"If she's a healer, then she can heal the scientist in the wheelchair. But she would have to _work up to_ controlling her magic to the point of healing. I do think that we might be able to get her to see it in that light. Doing it not for herself, but for him."

"You might just be a genius," Sigyn smiled.

"Am I now?" Frigga chuckled. "Does that mean that you think that I'm onto something?"

"Should we go talk to her now?" Sigyn asked eagerly. "Where is she?"

Jarvis' voice startled both goddesses as they walked to the elevator when he declared, "You'll find her in her office."

"Is she alone?" Frigga asked.

"Yes."

"Good."

* * *

"May we come in?"

Skye's eyes darted up from her hunched-over position at her computer to see Frigga and Sigyn standing in her doorway, and she very nearly told them to go away. But she didn't. Instead she swallowed a sigh and answered tersely, "Sure."

Frigga replied, "Thank you," as she preceded her daughter-in-law into the room and took a careful seat on the edge of Skye's desk. "We'd like to speak to you about something of interest to all of us."

"If it's Loki, I don't want to hear it," Skye answered, turning her attention back to her laptop.

"Not at all." Sigyn said. "It's about your scientist friend - the one in the wheelchair."

Skye tensed, demanding, "What the heck do you want with him?"

"We want to help you help him."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Healing powers… Skye," Frigga replied, obviously trying to tread carefully with the girl that she must see as being "terribly unstable" or something like that.

Sigyn continued, "Do you remember Thor, Sif, and Loki talking about healing powers?"

"Yeah," Skye answered, glancing from Sigyn to Frigga and back again. "So? Are you looking for me to bring somebody back to life? Because that's not going to happen."


	18. Chapter 18

"It's not about life or death… it's about giving someone a better quality of life." Sigyn answered.

"Enough riddles," Skye snarled. "What are you people talking about? Shoot straight with me."

Frigga nodded, obliging, "If you're willing to learn how to use your magic, we could work you up towards teaching you how to heal people - perhaps even how to heal your scientist friend?"

"You're baiting me," Skye drawled, leaning back in her chair to glare at Frigga through narrowed eyes. " _Why_?"

"You've gotten extremely bitter very quickly," Frigga remarked, a sad sort of haunted look passing through her eyes that almost managed to get to Skye. "We want to help you to see that there _are_ good things about my family - our family - before you get even harder towards us - or yourself, for that matter."

Skye smirked, asking darkly, "Are you trying to save me from becoming _Daddy_?"

" _We_ are trying to help you gain control over a force that you do not currently understand - one that is inside of you and does need to be controlled unless you want to deal with frequent issues like yesterday's teleportation. We are trying to give you a way to help your… I daresay another family member of yours."

Sigyn's voice was soft as she suggested, "And perhaps, if you were to heal your friend, it would take some of the guilt off of Agent Ward's shoulders for having caused the issue to begin with."

Skye glared long and hard at the blonde, but all three of them knew that she'd just gotten to her. A long minute of silence followed Sigyn's statement before Skye ground out hatefully, " _Fine_. But only for the boys."

"That's a good enough reason for me," Frigga answered with a smile. "I think it's a good idea if we just let you adjust to the idea of all of this today, and we'll start tomorrow morning. Is that agreeable?"

"Sure," Skye replied, returning to the safety of staring at her laptop screen.

* * *

"How did you know about the boy?" Frigga asked Sigyn once the two of them were once again in the elevator.

"If you mean Agent Ward, I simply observed," Sigyn answered simply. "When we left Hela's quarters yesterday, her team stayed behind, and I stayed out of sight to see so. Eventually, everyone in her team left but Agent Ward. He's barely left her side since; it's easy to see what's going on between them. I was down in her lab with Jane and we overheard the disabled scientist talking with his girlfriend about Agent Ward being the one to cause his accident. The rest is simply… a knowledge of how the heart works."

Frigga nodded and didn't comment on the fact that the thought "and personal experience" was hanging in the air.

* * *

"Your mother is marvelous, you know," Sigyn declared brightly, stepping with Frigga into Jane and Selvig's lab.

Loki looked up from where he'd been studying a sample that Jane had set before him in a microscope and said, "Yes, but why this time?"

"She's convinced Hela to learn magic."

"It's not that marvelous," Frigga said dismissively.

"How did you manage that?" Loki asked his mother in surprise.

"By offering to see to it that she's taught healing."

"How'd that manage to convince her?" Jane asked.

"For the man in the wheelchair."

"Fitz," Jane supplied, looking at Sigyn as she said, "The question is: Is she willing to heal Fitz to help him or Ward?"

Loki looked between the women with a surprised, "I beg your pardon?"

His question went ignored as Sigyn answered Jane, "Both, I suspect."

"Another question," Frigga said with a mischievous spark in her eye. "Is who exactly is going to teach Hela these things."

"What do you mean?" Sigyn asked in confusion. "I heard you offer to do so."

"No, I never once said 'I', I said 'we,' which leaves an opening for you or Loki to help her learn these things as well."

Sigyn smiled warily, admitting, "That's an interesting opening, yes, but do you think it's wise to try and deceive her right now when she already trusts us so little?"

Loki added, "And you're the one who told me to be patient and not push her."

"Well, no, don't push her into it, and do be patient - but that doesn't mean that you can't be _present_. Just come with me to her office tomorrow morning and watch. Maybe assist my teaching if she becomes comfortable with your presence."

It was a tempting idea, Loki would admit, but he didn't know if it was a good one. Still, he'd never known his mother to have a bad idea, so… "Very well."

"Thank you," Frigga smiled before sweeping back to the upper floors.

Once she was gone, Loki shook his head and looked dryly at his wife, muttering in near exasperation, "And people wonder from whom I received my mischievous streak."

Sigyn grinned and Jane declared, "I don't."

* * *

"What's _he_ doing here?"

Frigga turned all-too-innocent eyes to Hela – Skyem as the Midgardians called her – as the girl stepped into the middle of the training room and glared darts at Loki with her arms crossed over her chest. "Well, he was my first true pupil in magic, so I thought that he might like to get a – what do you call it? – refresher course."

"Uh-huh," Skye answered with a roll of her eyes, suddenly whipping around and swinging fiercely into a nearby punching bag a couple of times. "I don't suppose you're willing to do this without him here, are you?"

Loki glanced painfully between the two females, but Frigga shook her head minutely at her son, telling him to stay where he was.

"He'll stay out of the way," she promised.

"Then I guess I'll get out of your way," Skye snapped, turning her back to Frigga and Loki as she headed for the door.

Frigga was generally unwilling to use blackmail, but despite that she asked instantly, "Do you want to help your friend, Dr. Fitz?"


	19. Chapter 19

Skye froze in the doorway, back stiffening, and for a long moment there was silence until she sighed with resignation and turned back around to face Frigga, answering tautly, "Fine. Where do we start?"

Realizing that she must be truly terrified of the magic itself as well as perturbed with Loki's presence, Frigga smiled with gentle encouragement and said, "Come over here and sit down. Get comfortable, put your hands palms-up, close your eyes, and try to look for your magic source."

"You want me to meditate?" Skye asked, skeptically doing as she'd been told.

"I want you to look for your magic store," Frigga corrected.

"How the heck am I supposed to do that? Less than a week ago, I didn't even know anything about any of this!"

"Skye," Sensing her nearly instant disgust and even discouragement, Loki spoke up with a vein of hesitancy in his tone. "Your magic is in your subconscious almost. If you have to consciously connect to your store like we're – like Mother's – asking you to, it's going to feel a bit like daydreaming. Zone out on your surroundings and turn inwards… like… mining your emotions."

"'Mining my emotions'?" Skye repeated with a smirk, eyes still closed.

"You're not turning inward, not 'zoning out' at all," Frigga pointed out.

"Yeah, well, he's not exactly 'staying out of the way', is he?"

At his daughter's sharp tongue, Loki slammed his mouth closed and Frigga took the lesson back over as Skye sighed once again and become perfectly still, trying to do what they'd asked her to. She took a few deep breaths, eventually allowing her body to relax and then suddenly it happened.

A plume of green light appeared in each of her palms.

Feeling the difference, like a burst of cool air blowing onto her hands, Skye jumped, her eyes flew open – and the magic disappeared from her palms. "Was that…?"

"Yes, you had it;" Frigga said patiently. "Try again. Maybe if you can concentrate with your eyes open this time, it'll help when it comes back up into your hand."

Skye settled back into her previous position, but this time it took her even longer to relax. When she finally managed it, however, the magic flowed back through her hands and out into the open.

Shock flooded her face as Frigga said with a smile, "I'm not going to show you any spells just yet; I want you to get comfortable with the magic itself first, alright? Play around with it; see if you can bend its form."

"'Bend its form'?" Skye repeated in confusion, still mesmerized by the light glowing above her hands.

Frigga nodded, explaining, "If you can concentrate on bending its shape – getting it to flow like water, maybe, or bounce like a ball – that's the shape it takes. It's a simple tactic to getting used to handling magic."

Skye put her hands close together and spread them slowly apart, watching with Frigga and Loki as the magic changed from looking like twin flames licking upwards to a waterfall flowing downward into oblivion, and she asked excitedly, "Like this?"

"Exactly like that!" Frigga laughed, noting the similar expressions of glee on the faces of her son and granddaughter.

The girl was a quicker learner when she _wanted_ to do something. That meant that she was stubborn – like her father. If the look that was now on Skye's face was any indication, Frigga realized that teaching her about magic might not be so hard – as a matter of fact, it might just turn out to be the easy part of getting Skye to except that she was also Hela…

* * *

"Ward!" Skye hollered, darting out of the elevator and looking wildly around for the man in question as she skidded onto the third level of the base. "Ward!"

"What's on fire?" Ward asked worriedly, coming from down the hallway.

"Look!" Skye beamed excitedly, holding her hands out.

Glancing at her flat palms, Ward looked back up at her expectantly, "What am I looking at?"

Irritation flashed through Skye as she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and forced herself to calm down. A few seconds later, cool air washed over her hands and when she heard Ward gasp, she opened her eyes, searching his gaze for what he thought of the new development.

"This is because of Loki, I guess?" he double-checked, expression mildly hesitant.

Skye nodded, not wanting to lose her happiness over what she could do, so she said, "Watch this!"

Staring at the light dancing between her hands, she twisted her wrists, forming the magic into one ball that she experimentally threw towards the other wall. The ball of magic did something she didn't expect it to and followed the trajectory, flying across the room and nearly breaking a lamp in the process. Shocked, Skye's hand flew to her mouth.

"Careful there," an unexpected voice said, and both Sky and Ward jumped, neither having realized that someone new had stepped off of the elevator.

They both whirled around to face him, Skye yelping, "Coulson! I-that was an accident!"

Appearing wary and just a bit guarded, Coulson took a step closer to her as he said, "That's fine; Frigga warned me to expect a few of those while you're learning. I take it that this morning's lesson went well, though?"

Skye nodded, feeling happy with this "Lokisdotter" thing for the first time as she once again took a deep breath and displayed the green flame-looking things that flew to the palms of her hands.

"And you're okay with it?" Coulson asked, surveying her shrewdly.

She answered honestly, knowing that he would be able to spot anything but total truth from her. "With this part of it, yes. Frigga and Sigyn pointed out that I'd be able to do a lot of good with it."

"Yeah," Coulson said warily. "They told me what they'd discussed with you. I'm glad that you have a goal… just don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"I won't," Skye promised, watching Coulson as he nodded and then headed towards the kitchen.

Once he was out of hearing range, Ward asked curiously, "You have a goal to work towards?"

Skye nodded, looking away from him and biting her lip hesitantly as she answered, "I'll tell you later; right now I need to get back to my office, I've got a couple of software updates that should be done by now."


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking some liberties with magic here, but they never really discuss it in depth in canon, so... just humor me, pretty please?

Skye wasn't sure what to think about the fact that, the next morning, she was looking forward to her second magic lesson as she made her way towards the training room. She was a little surprised, however, by what she found. Agent May was doing her tai chi in a corner of the room… and Sigyn was the one waiting for Skye.

"Good morning," the blonde greeted her cheerfully.

"Hey. Is Frigga coming – or Loki?"

"Frigga's busy and Loki assumed you wouldn't want him here. So you're getting me as today's teacher, it would appear. Unless you want Jarvis to summon Loki?"

"No, I'm good."

"Very well," Sigyn replied, but Skye heard the glimmer of disappointment in her voice before she changed the subject, requesting. "Show me what you can do."

Skye was startled by Frigga's absence, but she didn't actually think that Sigyn was a _bad person_ – despite the previous near-blackmail a couple of days ago. And she wanted to learn more about her magic – so she demonstrated the way she could shape her magic, and even threw it at the wall once, just because she could. As she hadn't meant for it to harm, it didn't, but Sigyn did look pleased by the fact that Skye had exceeded Frigga's expectations.

"Very good," Loki's wife praised her. "I think you might be capable of a little actual magic- _doing_ today. Is that agreeable to you?" Skye nodded eagerly, and Sigyn asked then, "How do you feel about telekinesis?"

"Is that possible?" Skye gasped.

Sigyn smiled, adding, "And relatively simple – although there is a chance that you won't be able to do it so easily."

"Why not?"

"Your magic is green, like Loki's; mine is blue."

"Does that matter?"

"Mostly the color of one's magic has to do with personality types," Sigyn explained. "But certain types of magic come easier to different colors. Telekinesis comes easiest to those with blue magic. People with green magic tend to be genuine, smart, and oftentimes prone to mischief. Jormungandr, for example, is someone else with green magic. Sleipnir is another blue, like myself."

"What about the others?" Skye asked curiously. "Are there only those two colors?"

"No," Sigyn shook her head. "There's also red, gold, purple, and black."

"What are the personality types?" Skye asked, flopping down to sit on the training-mat-covered floor.

Sigyn folded herself down on the mat across from Skye, answering, "Blues tend to be very… maternal – caring and patient, loyal and longsuffering. Reds are – can be – temperamental. They're oftentimes introverted or just… not wonderful with people. Sif has red magic. Golds can be great leaders when they choose to be. There's a lot of variation in golds, honestly, because they seem to come with a lot of potential that may – or may not – be untapped. For example, Frigga's magic is technically gold – but then, so is Fandral's. Purples tend to be very serious. Hogan and both Narfi and Vali have purple magic. And black magic…"

"Is it bad magic?"

"Not bad, no, it just comes from someone who's… dark, and usually that comes from having many regrets."

"Are there any black magic people here?"

Sigyn answered thoughtfully, "I don't know. None of those who came from off-world, no, but, you see, even Midgardians have a sort of… aura to them of one color or another out of those six that I mentioned. Asgardians like Sif and The Warriors Three don't have magic, and neither do Midgardians. However, when someone with magic holds their hand with their magic held between their connected hands with the intent of finding out the 'color of their aura', if you will, of the nonmagical person, then the magic will show from between their hands as the color of the nonmagical person. It can be used as a sort of personality test."

"Let's try it," Skye suggested eagerly.

Sigyn warned, "You'll need the agreement of nonmagical person if you really want to try it."

Skye instantly called out across the room, "May, come here!"

The agent looked skeptically at them, approaching slowly to ask, "What?"

"Do you mind trying a personality test?"

Her expression becoming all the more dubious, May agreed warily, "Okay?"

"Give me your right hand," Sigyn requested.

May complied tensely, blinking when Sigyn's magic flew up between their palms – and came from between their fingers as black.

"May I try your left hand?" Sigyn asked, explaining, "If you're in a relationship, your color will blend with his."

May's eyes blew wide and she jerked her left hand out of Sigyn's grasp, but it was too late; they'd already joined hands while Sigyn was explaining. While May's own color from her right hand was projecting as black, what was coming from her left hand was violet.

"What's that mean?" Skye asked. "Are you in a relationship, May?"

Before May could object, Sigyn said certainly, "With someone who's color will show through as purple."

"Purple," Skye repeated thoughtfully. "That means it's with somebody who's serious." Sigyn looked curiously at May as Skye suddenly scrambled to her feet with a shrill squeal, declaring gleefully, "And I bet I know who it is!" as she raced for the elevator. She darted a step back and grabbed Sigyn's hand, dragging her along behind her, nearly as an afterthought as she declared, "We need to go do this test on Coulson!"

Skye and Sigyn were gone before May could even begin to formulate a protest.

* * *

For the next couple of hours, Skye ran gleefully around the base with Sigyn, finding out the colors of nearly everyone in the building until only one man remained.

Sigyn looked at Skye as they collapsed onto the couch in the second floor living room, giving her an innocent smile as she asked, "Are we onto your Agent Ward, then? Saving the best for last, I suppose?"

"No," Skye answered flatly, her entire expression falling flat as her tone did the same thing.

"Why not?" Sigyn asked, turning to her slightly with concern.

Skye worried at her lips, looking away as she admitted ever so softly, "I'm afraid to know."


	21. Chapter 21

"Why are you afraid to know his personality type?" Sigyn asked in confusion. "If you're in a relationship with him, isn't that something you could already guess at?"

Skye swallowed, nodded, muttered, "Yeah, I can guess – red, maybe, or purple - but probably black."

"Oh? Why would you say that?"

Skye sighed, picking at a loose thread on the couch cushion as she considered whether or not to answer – let alone what answer to give. Finally, she asked without looking at… her stepmother, "You said that black came with lots of regrets, right?"

Sigyn's tone was careful now as she answered, like she realized that whatever Skye might choose to share was going to be a big deal to the girl. "Yes."

"I have a feeling that Ward has a lot of those," Skye revealed quietly. "At least… I kind of hope he does."

"I don't understand; I thought that you love him."

"I guess nobody really understands what I'm thinking," Skye sighed in frustration, saying, "I hardly understand what I'm thinking about him from one second to the next. It's just…" Her head wove back and forth as she considered the words before she said, "Ward came onto Coulson's team lying to us. He was working undercover for the bad guys, though he has obviously decided to join the good guys since then. But… before we started rebuilding SHIELD like this, we found out what he was – and when we did… he did some pretty unforgivable things."

"You mean your doctor friend?" Sigyn asked with gentle hesitancy.

Skye nodded, saying, "You guys tend to say 'friend'. That they're my 'friends' – and they are – but they're more than that. For a kid who grew up in foster homes, they were the first family I ever had – all seven of us felt that way to begin with, I think – and then… Ward turned on his family. Fitzsimmons…" Skye rolled her eyes back in her head, trying to keep tears from escaping her eyelids as she all but whispered, "Fitzsimmons were like siblings to him – that's how they looked at him, regardless of whatever he thought of them – and then he just… tried to kill them. Everybody else's opinion of him seems to have adjusted accordingly, and then there's _me_ over here in my own little corner having fallen for him _before_ all of this happened, and trying _not_ to love him now, but it's not working, and I want it to and it's not, and he's being so nice about this whole Loki-is-my-dad thing, and I really just want to trust him – it just feels so _right_ – but how can I _do that to_ the rest of my _family_ – the _good_ part of my family – and-"

"Skye," Sigyn shifted, placing a gentle hand on the hacker's arm as she rambled on. "Skye, breathe, sweet girl. Skye, listen to me!" Ah, there it was. Skye stopped, taking a deep breath as she slammed her mouth closed and looked at Sigyn expectantly. "I recant of what I said earlier," Sigyn started once she realized that she had her stepdaughter's attention. "I do understand – what you're feeling, I mean. And first and foremost? You're not… _wrong_ for loving your Agent Ward. You're just in love, like anybody else in the realms who is lucky enough to have that other person in their lives. The things he's done… they're not deniable – but they are forgivable, aren't they?"

"Yes," Skye answered quietly.

"Then they're not the _definition_ of him; they're a _condition_ of him – just like another character trait, if you will. Everyone deserves to be given a second chance and to be loved by someone; no one deserves to be alone – especially not if there's someone there willing to love them and be loved by them. Do you think that he loves you – genuinely and honestly? Can you say for certain that despite – in fact, in the middle of – all the lies that he told while on the side of the enemy, his love for you was and is the truth?"

Skye repeated, nibbling on her lip again, "Yes."

"And you do love him in return, even considering the things he's done in the past?"

There was no hesitation this time as Skye repeated, "Yes."

Sigyn gripped Skye's hands, saying with the same gentle firmness in her gaze and tone as was in her voice, "Then don't question it. It honestly wasn't until I got here – an entire three days ago, yes – that I realized my thoughts were exactly what yours are. I was trying too hard to move past someone who was right there – someone who still needed and loved me with the same depth that I love and need him – and it was hurting me as much as it hurt him. Sweet girl, I don't want to see you get hurt… so just let go of those insecurities. _Let yourself_ fall back in love with your Agent Ward; forget what he's done in the past and just… allow yourself to see the future with him that I dare say you desire."

The faint blush on Skye's cheeks was confirmation enough for Sigyn, who smiled as she watched Skye work through this in her head and then murmur, "Alright."

"Promise to stop over thinking it?" Here Skye hesitated, so Sigyn squeezed her hands again and added, "Trust me, Skye; I'm here to help you, however you need me to."

"Okay," Skye relented. "I promise."

"Thank you," Sigyn replied, her smile widening – and the smile only got bigger when Skye leaned into her and wrapped her arms around her in a rather… _trusting_ hug. "I love you, sweet girl," Sigyn dared to venture not at all expecting her stepdaughter to return the sentiment, and telling her so. "But you don't have to say it too; I tend to know when I'm being lied to, and that takes the sweetness out of the gesture."

Skye just sighed with contentment, burrowing further into Sigyn's arms for a minute as she thought this over before she muttered against the other woman's shoulder, "But you're kind of my mom, and I think I might want to love you."

Tears burned in Sigyn's eyes and her grip on Skye tightened as she murmured only, "I would like that very much, sweet girl."


	22. Chapter 22

"Would you like to stay for the meal?" Sigyn asked Skye.

Skye paused, muttering "supper?" as she turned to look at the nearest clock in surprise. "Wow, I didn't realize it was that late already! Time flies when you're having fun, I guess." She turned back to Sigyn, replying with a nervous smile, "Yeah, I can stay if you want me to."

"I would like you to, yes," Sigyn smiled as the two of them rose from the couch, saying, "Not the least reason for which is that I would like someone to help me learn my way around a Midgardian kitchen. I'm afraid I'm not used to cooking even on Asgard."

Skye blinked, momentarily caught off guard by the idea that someone as capable-seeming as Sigyn didn't know how to cook. But then again, it did make sense; she was Asgardian royalty.

"Of course I can show you," Skye replied eagerly. "How to use things, that is. I'm not a great cook, either. Ward is, though, actually." She led Sigyn into the kitchen, declaring, "If you want to learn how to actually cook, he's who I'd go to for lessons or tips or whatever. Although, for now, the two of us are going to try to mess around with the stove. How do Asgardians feel about hamburgers?"

"What are those?"

Skye grinned. "Oh, I was hoping you would say that. Let's get to work!"

* * *

"Agent Ward," Jarvis' voice flooded the training room as he declared, "The smoke alarm has been activated in the second level kitchen, and I believe your assistance might be appreciated."

Grant dropped the gun he'd been practicing with and bolted for the stairs, asking, "What's on fire and who needs help?"

"Nothing's on fire yet; Skye and Sigyn are trying on cook."

Grant relaxed exponentially, laughing as he replied, "Say no more, Jarvis; I've got it under control."

He was still smiling when the elevator doors slid open on the appropriate level and he ambled out into the kitchen, noting the quiet as he heard Skye say, "And that concludes the impromptu lesson on how the smoke alarm works."

Grant made his presence known, chuckling as he asked, "Would you like some help?"

Skye huffed in both frustration and relief as answered, "Yes!"

Smiling secretively at Skye as Grant moved to wash his hands, the goddess asked her, "Did you send for him?"

"Jarvis did that on his own," Skye explained. "He records conversations and uses artificial intelligence to piece together profiles of people, meaning he now knows the Ward is a good cook."

"You've been talking about me?"he asked, wondering if he should be pleased or not.

"Passing comments," Skye shrugged. "It was more talking about me."

She was still being evasive, which was making Grant even more curious. "Did you learn anything," he asked, taking over Skye's attempt at making burgers. "In the magic lesson that I assume you had today? I heard you two have been all over the base today."

"We talked about personality types," Skye hedged, both of them knowing that he'd catch her if she lied outright.

"What does that have to do with me?"

Sigyn broke in, glancing at Skye as she said, "I was making comparisons."

"Between me and somebody else?" Grant asked, and even with his front to the stove, turned away from them, he could feel the tension sparking between them. Was this a conversation they were _that much_ against him knowing about? Considering his past, he was suddenly a little afraid to find out, and requested, "You know what? Don't answer that."

Sky sidled up to him and put an arm around his waist, declaring with a smile, "Basically we decided that I love you."

He knew enough to fill in the blanks, adding, "Even against your better judgment?"

Skye sighed against his shoulder, rising up on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek and whisper, "I love you, Grant."

That was not an answer to his question, but he didn't point that out, just wrapped his free arm around her, kissed the top of her head, and replied, "I love you too."

* * *

Loki felt a bolt of surprise shoot through him when he stepped off the elevator to hear Sigyn and Hela talking in the kitchen. With a man whose voice he didn't recognize, perhaps, but Hela was here – and happily so, if her tone was any indication! He felt a smile spread across his face even as his mother, Sif, and the Warriors Three flowed out of the elevator around him.

Frigga put her hand on his arm and tugged him forward with her, saying, "Come, let's go talk with them," as she headed into the kitchen.

Loki went obediently, stopping in the doorway to ask cheerfully, "What's this?"

"The preparing of a meal," Sigyn answered happily, pausing in her preparations to go to him and give him the quickest of kisses.

He stole another, just momentarily relishing the fact that she would let him do so, then turning his attention to the other man in the room when he said, "What we're making are called hamburgers."

Loki sniffed the air, asking curiously, "Are they supposed to be burnt?"

The man barked a laugh, Sigyn chuckled, and Skye blushed.

His wife was the one to answer, "I don't believe so. Agent Ward has been helping Skye and I rescue them though."

"That's me," the man said, offering Loki his hand to shake, as was the Midgardians' custom. "I'm Grant Ward."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Loki replied, filing the new name away in amongst the many he'd heard in the past four days. "Many thanks for making dinner edible."

Loki grinned when Sigyn hit him lightly on the arm, objecting, "We tried, didn't we, Skye?"

The brunette nodded, hesitantly allowing herself to be drawn into the conversation for the first time as she added, "And we still are – with ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, lettuce, that sort of stuff."

"I know what only half of those things are," Loki admitted, hoping to keep her talking. "And I can only assume that they're meant to be put on the hamburgers."

"Right. The ketchup and mustard both have ingredient lists on the back if you're really interested in knowing more. You may even have better luck then me at ready some of the chemical names."

So saying, she turned away, going silent again and effectively ignoring his presence. Seeing his face fall, Sigyn squeezed his arm, wearing a sympathetic expression while he fought the urge to sigh in his discouragement.


	23. Chapter 23

Skye really wasn't sure how exactly this evening turned out the way that it did, just that it was probably Frigga's fault – and, oddly enough – she was okay with that. While she had been working in the kitchen with Sigyn and Grant, more people had continued to pour onto the level after those who actually lived there – namely, Thor, Jane, Thrud, and all of Loki's sons.

Seeing what was going on, Grant had just squeezed her hand, offered her an encouraging smile, and – of all things – handed her over to Thrud to be dragged into the socializing that was happening all around them. Apparently, even though Thrud didn't have the best relationship with her father, she got along well with her cousins, and Skye found herself having a really nice time in the midst of the group.

She liked these people – liked that they were loud, spoke their minds, and had an unshakable sense of justice and loyalty… just like she did. When she tilted her head, so to speak, and looked at it a certain way, she even fit in here.

That wasn't to say that she didn't avoid Loki as best as she could – because she did – but this was a group that she was suddenly starting to like the idea of becoming a part of. Maybe she should start putting forth a little effort to see what would happen…

So she did.

As the rebuilt version of SHIELD started figuring things out and built up, so did she. She continued her magic lessons with Frigga, confided in Sigyn concerning her and Grant's relationship, and pursued fight training with Thrud, Narfi, and Vali. She learned that Fenrir was absolutely _the best_ person to crawl under a blanket with during thunderstorms, and that all of Loki's children had been with a fear of such storms, much to Darcy's unending amusement. She figured out that Sleipnir was always a great person to ask for advice, and that nothing in the Nine Realms did as good a job of charging her laptop as a purposeful touch form Mjolnir to it from Thor. She learned that mice were never, ever a problem when Jormungandr was in the building, and that Sif and Jane both had a pretty awesome fashion sense, nerd and warrior though they may have been. She realized that The Warriors Three were the world's best bodyguards… and that Loki was going to be there for her as much as she'd let him, patiently awaiting the day that she'd see him as the father that he desperately wanted to be to her.

And as time wore on, it got surprisingly harder and harder for her to keep him at arm's length. She'd long ago accepted the other members of his clan as her own family members, and were it not for Coulson, she would be just as willing to do the same thing for him – eager, even, considering that it was his blood that ran through her veins, hard as that thought had been to get used to. But she still felt the need to remain loyal to the director… and she didn't know how to give them both an equal place in her life without hurting him.

But life had this nasty habit of continuing on, forcing her forward, even when she still wasn't sure what to do with the situation she was in. For example: with the expansion of her magical abilities, Coulson had the less than brilliant idea to send her out on a solo mission. However, despite the fact that – as it turned out – she was the actual goddess of Hel – Stark had since made more than one comment about that being the perfect designation for one of Loki's children – it hadn't taken long for her mission – a simple cross-off-the-crazy assignment – to go… well, to Hel. And as this was a solo mission, she had no back up… yet the man in the self-made, flame-throwing Iron Man knock-off still seemed to have plenty of juice to spend on his end.

Flame-throwing. That was the reason that Coulson had sent her here in the first place. Over the past month, they'd discovered that Skye – as Hela, goddess of Hel – was actually capable of producing and controlling fire, as this suit seemed to be. Unfortunately, nobody had counted on Skye's not-yet-perfected magic choosing _right now_ to go unpredictable on her, and even if she did call for backup, they weren't going to be able to get here before fire-suit-guy burnt her to a crisp, right? But, hey, she might as well pull out all the stops before she died.

Knowing that Coulson had charged Barton with being on the other side of her earpiece should she need the help, Skye said loudly, "I can't hold him off any longer, Hawkeye; I need backup _now_."

And just like that, there was a presence at her side, 6'2 and oh-so-welcome as green energy shot out of furious hands, causing the robot – and the man inside – to actually _disintegrate_ before her very eyes. With the threat eliminated, Skye whipped around, wondering just who she would find and somehow already knowing who it would be. Loki – looking very much like the angry overprotective father that… well, that he was.

Seeing him there, having come so quickly to her aid and rescued her, Skye felt a shiver run from her scalp to her toes as she suddenly dove gratefully into Loki's arms, her faith in her own abilities thoroughly shaken to the core.

Loki's hands were instinctively holding her close, one hand on her back with the other cradling her head as he murmured, "It's alright; don't be afraid. You're safe now; I've got you."

She was still shaken; she was still acting on frayed instincts and adrenaline, and that was the only reason she could come up with for why she whispered, "Dad?" She felt Loki pause, just barely, before he kissed her scalp and tightened his hold on her just a little. At his kindness, her treatment of him over the past months skittered through her brain like broken shards of glass, digging into her conscious as she realized how cruel she'd been to him, making her ask softly, "Why did you come?"


	24. Chapter 24

She looked vulnerably up into his eyes and saw him debate between two answers before he said, "Coulson sent me to you."

And somehow _that_ was the answer that she needed more than the other one she knew he'd been considering – "because you're my daughter and I love you." That was daily implied… but the idea that Coulson trusted her to Loki was something new… and _exactly_ what she'd needed to hear in order to let in the man currently holding her – and she began to cry.

Let them think what they wanted to about her freaking out on a mission; that wasn't the point of her tears. The point was that Coulson had just given her the permission she'd needed to accept Loki as the father that he was.

"Don't cry, dear one," Loki murmured, sweeping an arm under her knees to lift her into his arms before he teleported them back to the base – to Bruce and Betty's section of the lab, to be exact. Setting her down on Dr. Banner's work table and ignoring the way their presence had just startled the two scientists, he asked, concern in his eyes as he raked his gaze over her in search of wounds, "Are you hurt?"

She had received multiple burns during her fight with the man-with-a-fire-suit, but healing had been one of the first things Frigga had taught her, so she shook her head miserably.

"You weren't ready to go on a mission by yourself," Loki murmured matter-of-factly, softly enough that Bruce and Betty wouldn't hear him passing judgment on the director as he pressed his forehead to hers.

The contact was new and unusual… but she found that she liked it. Somewhere within the past months she'd started to think of him as just as much of a father to her as Coulson was, and she was finally letting that fact shine through – and when she did, he took that as his permission slip to do the same.

"I'm okay," Skye muttered, wrapping her arms around Loki's neck and burrowing her face in his neck, feeling fiercely disappointed in herself.

"No," Loki said slowly. "It's not – and believe me, Mother's in his office telling him as much."

Skye's groan was muffled in her father's neck as she repeated, "I'm fine!"

"Physically, yes," Loki continued in a gentle voice. "But you've just lost a lot of confidence in your own abilities, haven't you?" Skye said nothing, just tried to shrink further into his embrace and he said, "That's what I thought." Suddenly his voice became a little more businesslike as he tapped her between the shoulder blades and asked her, "Why did you begin learning magic in the first place? Answer me honestly, please."

Skye looked a little warily up into his eyes, whispering, "I wanted to help Fitz."

Loki nodded thoughtfully, considering as he looked around the lab, gaze zeroing in on a cage of white lab rats in the corner. Determinedly prying her arms from around his neck, Loki stalked across the lab to the cage and took out a squealing rat, holding it gently in his hands as he returned to stand in front of Skye. Then she heard the decisive sound of the poor animal's two hind legs snapping.

"Loki!" Betty cried out in protest as Skye did the same thing.

However, not even Loki's _expression_ changed as he placed the rat on the table beside Skye and said simply, "Heal it."

"Are you _insane_?" Skye demanded.

"The poor thing is in pain;" Loki pointed out. "You'd better fix it soon before it goes into shock."

Skye glared at him for another beat before she took a deep breath, focusing her concentration before she held her hand steadily over the broken limbs – and saw them heal underneath her ministrations.

"See," Loki said, obviously pleased. "Your abilities have not changed or faltered or… _gone wrong_ , you just have yet to learn to control them under stressful circumstances. Here, on the base, you can do whatever magic you feel like doing. Including, I suspect, at this point, healing your friend."

"You could have just said that," Skye grumbled, trying not to let her excitement over the very idea overcome the fact that she should still be upset with him over his little stunt with the rat.

"I could have, yes," Loki agreed evenly. "And I agree that my methods are a little unusual, but you needed to prove it to _yourself_ first. Now, maybe, you could try it on a human being – if you'd like to, that is."

Skye bit her lip, nervously thinking it over before she decided, "Sure I would."

"Good," Loki smiled. "Should we plan on gathering the team at the entry to the base tomorrow morning? It's the biggest space for your show."

"It's not a show! And I have to check with Frigga and make sure that she thinks I'm ready first."

"We've discussed it," Loki admitted. "And I know for a fact that she does. So – tomorrow morning at eight a.m.?"

She was glaring at him still, but she got the feeling, judging by his smile, that he could see straight through her to the nervous excitement bubbling just beneath the surface… and she nodded.

* * *

"Do you trust me?"

It was a kind of cruel way to start this, Skye knew, as she pushed Fitz in his wheelchair into the circle of space left for them in the middle of the crowded room. Yet, as they separated from the group – officially becoming the center of attention – he nodded. And he didn't even have any idea what she was planning on doing for him! She'd kept the number of people involved to the barest minimum – Loki, Sigyn, and Frigga – just in case she failed.

"Good," she said softly, crouching down in front of his chair and focusing solely on him as she placed her palms on his knees and distracted him with her voice while she worked her magic. "Because I've been working on a little gift for you." She stood slowly, checking his expression to make sure that he didn't yet realize what she'd just done as she rounded the wheelchair and put her palms on his shoulders and ran them quickly up the sides of his throat, giving the hair at nape of his neck an ornery tug. Grinning, she returned to facing him, taking his hands and pulling on them as she declared, "Now you can tell me what you think about it."

Fitz's eyebrows drew together in confusion; letting his expression speak for him, he was so unused to being able to use his voice.

Skye kicked the wheelchairs footrests out of the way, repeating solemnly, "Do you trust me?"

Fitz nodded, paling a little as he started to get the slightest clue, but Skye wasn't going to let that be a good enough answer, and she asked the question again, letting her own eyes tell him so.

And then he said, clear as a bell, as if his voice had never been stolen from him, "Yes."

Jemma screamed and darted forward a couple of steps, but Skye stopped her with an upraised pointer finger, requesting, "Wait."

Skye wanted to get excited; she wanted to so very badly, but she wouldn't let herself, not until she knew for certain that Fitz could walk again. She tugged on his hands once more, and this time he understood the cue, standing hesitantly to his feet – and taking a handful of surprisingly steady steps… before doing a cartwheel.

His accompanying whoop of joy seemed to break the spell of sorts that had fallen over the room, and Skye laughed gleefully as their audience descended. Suddenly, Grant and Loki were each on a side of her and she was surrounded by Coulson, the Asgardians, and her biological family as they praised her and celebrated the accomplishment with her. Still riding her euphoric happiness, Skye just looked around her and marveled at how it had all worked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sure if I'm done in this universe, though, because I've got a lot of other little ideas for the other characters here. For example: more Fitz, Clint, Jemma, Nat scenes; Clintasha's baby; brewing up a Bucky/Sharon romance as well as maybe some bonding scenes between Skye and her new found family... So what are your thoughts on a collection of one-shots/short stories?


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